The disaster:

Introduction:
As the race of the nuclear
energy started in the 20th century
between the united states of
America and the soviets, the
soviets build a nuclear power
station in Pripyat, Ukraine
northwest of the city of Chornobyl.
The nuclear station had 4 reactors
transferring water into electricity
using diesel generators producing
10% of the energy used in the
Ukraines electricity needs.
In 1986 reactor #4 exploded
because of an error in the cooling
maintenance.
Causing immediate 56
deaths(including 9 children).
Expecting 4000 cancer deaths.
approximately 600,000 most highly
exposed people.
Initial solution:
The sarcophagus:
After the explosion, soviets began to
bury the reactor and covering it with
metal concrete and structure shelter
called (The turtle shelter
or the Object Shelter )
to prevent radiation caused by the
leak.
It is estimated to contain 200 tons of
radioactive corium, 30 tons of
contaminated dust and 16 tons of uranium
and plutonium
Objective of The
sarcophagus:
After three weeks of the disaster the design of
the sarcophagus started on May 20 1986, The
construction lasted for 206 days.
The main problem in the design was the hot
nuclear fuel that might burn the foundations.
The solution was to build a cooling slab under
the reactor.
Four hundred miners dug tunnel below the
reactor having a depth of 168 meter.

More than 400,000 m3 of concrete , 7,300 tons

of metal framework covering 740,000 m 3of
heavily contaminated debris and soil inside.

over 60 bore holes were made to allow the

observation of the nuclear energy, filtration
systems used to prevent radioactive material
escaping through these holes.
construction of The
sarcophagus:
1- Slab Design:

Since air wouldnt be able to

withstand the hot nuclear fuel that
might burn the foundations, Engineers
had to design radiant a cooling system
slab (thermally activated building
systems (TABS)).
The cooling system slab consist pipes
with a liquid (hydronic) flowing inside
a hydronic circuit and loops the hot
fluid with a cooler fluid.
The roof consists a 27 steel pipes each
one is 36 meter-long having a 1-
meter diameter and weighing 20 tons
and steel panels in the north-south
direction that rest at an angle of 15,
also in the north-south direction.
construction of The sarcophagus:
2- Beams:

Three beams, support the roof

beams and panels.
-The first beam is 55m long and is
65 tons.
-The second beam is 40m long and
is 57 tons.

-A massive member, the

Mammoth Beam, spans the
largest and its 127 Tons, and 70m
long-distance across the roof from
east to west and assists in
supporting the roof beams and
panels.
Construction expansion:
There was a huge threat that the
wall of the reactor building or the
roof of the shelter might
collapse,The (The Designed
Stabilization Steel Structure
(DSSS)) designed a 63-meter-tall
yellow steel structure that has a
series of cantilevers against the
sarcophagus, and is intended to
stabilize the sarcophagus.

In December 2006 the Designed

Stabilization Steel Structure
(DSSS) was extended until 50% of
the roof load (about 400 tons) was
transferred from the axis 50 wall
to the DSSS.
Scientists announced that the
sarcophagus was never
intended to be a permanent
Construction result:
containment structure and
would last for 30 years
maximum before requiring
maintenance.
In 2010 it was revealed that
water leaking through the
sarcophagus roof was becoming
radioactively contaminated.
Besides the radioactivity failure,
the structure began to fail in
different ways:
1-In 2013 a 600 m2 section of
the roof collapsed. They
assumed that the roof collapsed
because of the weight of the
snow on it. However, the
amount of snow was not very
high.
2- the steel began to rust.
New Safe
The present-day solution:
Confinement:
-Chernobyls New Safe
Confinement (NSC) is a design
and construction of a huge
structure.

-The New Safe Confinement is

108 meters high and 162
meters long, and has a span of
257 meters and a lifetime of a
minimum of 100 years.

-The arch-shaped structure

weighs around 36,000 tons.

-1,200 workers were on site.

Objective of the New Safe Confinement (NSC):
Engineers had to design a structure
that would ceil the radiations again
taking into consideration the safety of
the worked from being subject to
radiations.

Two French (a consortium of Vinci and

Bouygues) construction companies
found the most effective solution, they
decided to build a mobile (moving)
structure which would be built near the
reactor #4 to insure the safety of the
workers from radiation.

The structure will be controlled

remotely from the outside to dismantle
the main structure along with the
sarcophagus and the reactor #4
1- TheofArch:
Design the New Safe Confinement (NSC):
-weighs around 30,000 tons.
-Consists 16 steel arch trusses.
-Every truss has two chords and
a triangular truss girder.
-12m distance between every
arch truss.
-They are connected by beams
and connections.
-Upper purlins are supported by
the upper chord of the arch.
-Lower chord fixes internal
cladding.
Design of the New Safe Confinement (NSC):
2- Claddings:
-External claddings cover an
area of 85000 m2.

-Moisture, air and heat

resistance.

-Designed to withstand a
tornado of class 3.

-Internal cladding has 300mm

wide and 0.5mm deep flat
panels.
Design of the New Safe Confinement (NSC):
3- Cranes:
-Central piece of equipment inside
the arch to support long-term
deconstruction of the shelter.
-Consist two bridges.
-Travel on six runway rails
- 96 m length.
-80 meters above the ground and
under the ceiling.
-It has been specifically designed
for dismantling the main structures
of the destroyed reactor and
original sarcophagus and for
handling heavily shielded waste
disposal.
Design of the New Safe Confinement (NSC):

4- Foundations:
-The foundation is designed as two
concrete ground beams.
-The beams are reinforced concrete
beams.
- each one is 175m long.
- Beneath them there are 396
caisson piles (30cm diameter).
-Each one of them is 25-meter
depth.
-The area in between these two
zones there are no piles but
instead a spread foundation that
rests on the ground top.
Design of the New Safe Confinement (NSC):

Moving the
structure:

-Engineers reduced friction

enough that the concern
would be how to stop the
structure instead of how to
move it.

-Powered by diesel electric

generators hung from the
arch.