PHASE 5 : CONSTRUCTION OF THE SACROPHAGUS

DATE : 20 May - 14 December, 1986 (Friday)

TIME PERIOD : 8 months

MANAGED BY : Liquidators and Military Personnel

AUTHORISE BY : Chernobyl Disaster Goverment Commission

LOCATION : Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, Reactor 4 building

After the debris cleanup was completed succesfully . Legasov and his commission can start the construction of the “Sarcophagus”. It had to be erected quickly and within the constraints of high levels of ambient gamma radiation.

The design started on 20 May 1986, 24 days after the disaster, and construction was from June to late November.[88] This major construction project was carried out under the very difficult circumstances of high levels of radiation both from the core remnants and the deposited radioactive contamination around it.

With Legasov advising the commision the initial steps required to build the strcuture. The construction workers had to be protected from radiation, and techniques such as crane driversworking from lead-lined control cabins were employed.

The construction work included erecting walls around the perimeter, clearing and surface concreting the surrounding ground to remove sources of radiation and to allow access for large construction machinery, constructing a thick radiation shielding wall to protect the workers in reactor No. 3, fabricating a high-rise buttress to strengthen weak parts of the old structure, constructing an overall roof, and provisioning a ventilation extract system to capture any airborne contamination arising within the shelter.