Concrete pouring for the wall footing of New Safe Confinement (NSC) arch has begun at the Shelter Facility site of Chernobyl NPP, according to Ukrainian State Construction Corporation Ukrbud, which is undertaking the work. The eastern end wall will seal the structure after the arch is moved over the third and fourth power units of Chernobyl plant, enabling decommissioning to take place.
After the concreting was completed, the process equipment was dismantled, old pipelines and metal structures were cut out and removed along with the emergency concrete, which had been poured immediately after the 1986 accident which destroyed unit 4.
“The work is being carried out under difficult radiation conditions and the builders can stay at certain sites for no more than 30 minutes per shift," Ukrbud notes. To date, concreting has been done in the turbine hall, in the first of three sections of the footing. The two remaining sections run through multiple rooms, which complicates the work significantly. At the same time, the footing concreting is being prepared at the western edge of the turbine hall. Some 80% of rebars have been installed and about 70% of the concrete needed for the first of two foundation plates has been poured. The NSC construction is planned to be completed in May 2017.
