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New Safe Confinement A Chernobyl, Ukraine story

Agriculture
  1. Earthshots
  2. Chernobyl, Ukraine
  3. New Safe Confinement
Description

A temporary structure was quickly built over reactor number 4 to contain radioactive material. A more permanent solution was needed. About two decades in the making, a massive steel structure called the New Safe Confinement was built to seal in the site.

Segments of the structure were pre-assembled in Italy and shipped to Ukraine. To prevent exposure to radiation for the workers, the structure was erected 300 m away from the site. The framework was completed in 2014, and the entire structure was moved into place in November 2016. Notice the difference in its location between these 2015 and 2018 images from Sentinel-2.

Considered the world’s largest moveable structure, the new covering weighs 40,000 tons and is 843 feet across, 355 feet high, and 492 feet long. It’s tall enough for the Statue of Liberty to fit inside. At Sentinel’s 10-meter resolution, the huge structure appears as a bright set of pixels at the accident site.

The New Safe Confinement is expected to securely contain the radiation for 100 years.

View Related Imagery & Stories

Location

Aug. 5, 2015, Sentinel-2A — New Safe Confinement, Chernobyl, Ukraine

Aug. 5, 2015, Sentinel-2A — New Safe Confinement, Chernobyl, Ukraine

Aug. 24, 2018, Sentinel-2B — New Safe Confinement, Chernobyl, Ukraine

Aug. 24, 2018, Sentinel-2B — New Safe Confinement, Chernobyl, Ukraine

Aug. 5, 2015, Sentinel-2A — New Safe Confinement, Chernobyl, Ukraine
Aug. 24, 2018, Sentinel-2B — New Safe Confinement, Chernobyl, Ukraine

Chernobyl, Ukraine Additional Imagery & Stories

Abandonment
Abandonment

Near the common borders of Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia, the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant lies near the Pripyat River at the northwestern end of a co...

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Cooling Pond
Cooling Pond

The Landsat 5 image acquired before April 26 shows heated water being pumped from the plant into the adjacent cooling pond and circulating countercloc...

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Reactor Number 4
Reactor Number 4

A closer look at the site of the power plant in the 1986 image shows a red spot near the location of reactor number 4. The high brightness of those...

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Wildlife
Wildlife

The exclusion zone is not officially a wildlife preserve, but with virtually no human intervention in the 1,600-square-mile zone since the accident, w...

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