Workers begin building new shelter for Chernobyl reactor

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This -- -- so funny off we go to Russia and new worries about the world's worst nuclear nightmare.

More than 25 years after the meltdown at the Chernobyl nuclear plant.

And workers in the former Soviet republic of Ukraine are finally beginning to build a giant -- Over the facilities still dangerous reactor.

Trace Gallagher has that story -- -- -- face.

You know -- after the Chernobyl -- disaster the first reaction was to try and cap the radiation -- can contain it and so what they did is they built this sarcophagus this concrete unit around reactor for.

At the time they called the 101000 year chill well it turns out the shelf life.

Of that was only about thirty years which is up and four years so now they're in the process of building -- new structure that looks kind of like a giant quonset hut.

Or an arch 840 feet long 500 feet wide and about as tall as the statue of liberty to plan is -- kind of slide this thing using railroad tracks over reactor number four.

And then begin to dismantle the reactor now one of the big concerns you have is -- -- that big smokestack or chimney on reactor number four they get a -- that thing down and with that you've got all kinds of radio active material.

The problem is even when this dome is put over the reactor it only contains radioactive material it doesn't actually contain.

They radioactive waste -- -- the radiation of fuel that comes out of it.

-- this day the town around there is -- 1151000.

People mandatory evacuated.

Remember 28 people died but 6000.

Mostly children at the time.

Ended up developing thyroid cancer and many have died.

Engineers say.

May be may be in a hundred years -- and a hundred years they can turn this whole area.

Into a tourist attraction because they believe it will finally be clean enough.

To approach eighteen miles around you still can't get near.

While even that seems optimistic -- thinks.

About.

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Workers begin building new shelter for Chernobyl reactor

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