Chornobyl shelter to be done by 2017

LONDON – The world’s leading powers say a protective cover over the collapsed Chornobyl nuclear power plant would be completed by November 2017, despite insufficient funding. German Environment Minister Jochen Flasbarth said a meeting of the Group of Seven (G-7) major economies had secured “concrete pledges” for 530 million euros ($590 million) of the remaining 650 million euros needed to complete the reactor’s “sarcophagus.” He added that he was confident that countries including Russia and China would provide the rest of the money following promises by both to do so. A makeshift cover was built in six months after the 1986 explosion at the Chornobyl plant, but it was expected to last a maximum of 30 years and has already had cracks repaired. The new one, a convex structure, is being built over the original sarcophagus and the hope is it will allow the old reactor to be dismantled. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by Reuters and Deutsche Presse-Agentur)