Chernobyl, abandoned after the only level seven radio-logical disaster ever classified, is now made busy again by the flurry of engineers working to construct a 40 ton arch the size of two Manhattan city-blocks designed to contain the damaged reactor. Several days after the hydrogen explosion in reactor 2 knocked the reactor cover off of its mount, exposing the air and workers to 50 Sieverts of radiation every 10 minutes (over 5 times the absolute lethal dose), an early containment program was initiated to cover the reactor with sand, cement, and a concrete cover to prevent the release of further isotopic material into the local environment. Three decades later, engineers are skeptical over how long this program planned on supporting the ravaged reactor. To update its containment condition, and quite frankly sleep at night, thirty countries have generously donated over $1.4 billion to finance the construction of the largest and heaviest object lifted in human history. Once constructed by 2017, the object is estimated to last at least 100 years and many analysts expect it to last over 300.
I chose this article because it’s of interest to me and, as radiological disasters were impossible to come by just a century ago, they push the limits of engineering and inspire some of the most complicated and beautiful designs that problems can inspire.
Now we can begin to rehabilitate the surrounding area of Pripyat and conduct research on the ecological succession processes which nature may devise to recover.
I chose this article because it’s of interest to me and, as radiological disasters were impossible to come by just a century ago, they push the limits of engineering and inspire some of the most complicated and beautiful designs that problems can inspire.
Now we can begin to rehabilitate the surrounding area of Pripyat and conduct research on the ecological succession processes which nature may devise to recover.