International Aid for Chernobyl Radiation Control

International organizations committed on Monday to provide 87.5 million euros, equivalent to 99 million dollars, to ensure the safety of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. This plant faced a disaster 30 years ago due to an explosion, and parts of Ukraine remain uninhabitable due to nuclear radiation. According to Agence France-Presse, this amount will be used to construct nuclear waste storage facilities. However, Ukraine still needs an additional 15 million euros to complete the underground storage facilities by the end of this year. Suma Chakrabarti, President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, which is leading the project, stated, "This is an important project for the whole world and, of course, for Ukraine and the people of Ukraine." According to the Wall Street Journal, this project, which is an engineering marvel, is essentially a guided arch structure that can cover about 10 football fields. Placing this 36,000-ton structure in place takes two or three days. David Driscoll, head of safety for the French consortium responsible for the project, said, "You could fit Wembley Stadium with all its parking underneath this structure." On April 26, 1986, an explosion in reactor number 4 of the Chernobyl power plant in the city of Pripyat in northern Ukraine – which was then part of the Soviet Union – caused a leak of radioactive materials that spread over a wide area. As a result of this incident, which is referred to as the most catastrophic accident in nuclear power history, about 350,000 residents of the surrounding areas were forced to leave their homes and workplaces, and the environmental damage is still evident. Approximately 40 different countries have so far contributed nearly 2.3 billion dollars to the Ukrainian government for the construction of a safe structure over the damaged reactor building. About 200 tons of uranium remain inside the damaged reactor, and there are fears that if the existing concrete structure covering the reactor collapses, more radioactive materials could leak out. Despite three decades having passed since this incident, the number of people who have died from radioactive exposure remains a highly controversial topic. In 2005, the United Nations estimated that over 9,000 people in Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus would die as a result of the consequences of the Chernobyl explosion. Greenpeace has claimed that this figure is significantly lower than reality.