LONDON, February 14 (RIA Novosti, Alexander Smotrov) - The winner of a tender to build a new shell that should keep the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster safe for future generations will be announced no sooner than in a few weeks' time, a spokesman for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development said Tuesday.
The EBRD representative thereby refuted previous media reports citing Ukrainian Emergency Situations Minister Viktor Baloga that the winner of Chernobyl tender would be announced in London today.
The spokesman said that a Chernobyl Shelter Fund (CSF) Donor Assembly's meeting was being held in London, but added that the process to assess bids could take few weeks.
In May 2005, 28 member states of the CSF Donor Assembly agreed to allocate $200 million for the construction of a new, safe shelter for the power plant in Ukraine, which was hit by an accident almost 20 years ago that sent shockwaves throughout the world.
The new structure will replace the old "sarcophagus", which was built in 1986 to cover the reactor at the center of a blast that spewed radioactive clouds across the region and beyond. It has since covered Unit 4 at the plant, but emerging cracks have led to fears that high radioactivity may again seep out.
The fund, which is managed by the EBRD and includes the elite Group of Eight industrialized nations, the European Union and Ukraine, has already collected more than $1 billion.
The construction of the new shell, an arch-shaped structure big enough to house the Statue of Liberty, will begin in 2007 and will be completed in one or two years. It is designed to serve for at least 100 years.
EBRD President Jean Lemierre said he was confident that Ukraine would build the reactor shell, which is only about 130 kilometers (80 miles) north of the capital Kiev, within the project's timeframes and the country's government would maintain strict control over expenses.
Following the 1986 Chernobyl accident, the worst in the history of nuclear power, about 135,000 people from within a 30-kilometer (18-mile) radius were evacuated, which has left the surrounding area looking like a ghost town to this day. After the explosion which happened during testing on the night of April 25-26, 1986, radioactive contamination spread not only across Ukraine (then part of the Soviet Union), but also into neighboring Russia and Belarus and even some countries of northern and western Europe.
