A project has been completed to stabilize the sarcophagus built over the remains of Chernobyl-4, destroyed in a 1986 accident, the Ukraine state trial board, a government acceptance committee, said November 6.rnStabilization of the sarcophagus, or shelter, cost about US$80 million and was carried out by a consortium that included Russia's Atomstroyexport, or ASE, and Ukrainian company Yutem-Engineering, and research and development institute Atomenergostroyproect. The consortium executed two contracts, both of which were within the framework of the international Shelter Implementation Plan, or SIP, and financed through the Chernobyl Shelter Fund at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, or EBRD.rnThe stabilized structure is intended to reduce the hazard and release of radioactivity from the collapse of the shelter itself. According to the state-owned operating company, Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, the stabilized sarcophagus should be good for at least 15 years. During that time, a new containment will be erected over the existing sarcophagus.
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