Chernobyl New Safe Confinement

The Chernobyl New Safe Confinement is a steel arch-shaped construction over reactor 4 at Chernobyl, standing 108 meters tall and 162 meters wide. Massive pillars support the vault, which is covered with stainless steel plates and forms a fully enclosed space over the damaged facility.

Construction began in September 2010 as a replacement for the old sarcophagus built after the 1986 reactor accident. Work was completed in July 2019, after the entire structure had been slid over the damaged building.

Engineers and technicians from dozens of countries worked together on this project, and it still stands as an example of worldwide cooperation in nuclear safety. The international effort is reflected in the multilingual safety information visible on site.

Visitors can view the outside from a safe distance, but the interior is accessible only to specialized personnel with protective equipment and clearance. The area around the facility has decontamination zones and security perimeters that are strictly controlled.

The entire shell was assembled to the side of the reactor and then slid on rails over the ruin to reduce radiation exposure for workers. This approach was necessary because building directly above the reactor would have been too dangerous.