Chernobyl: From nuclear ground zero to solar farm
Chernobyl is synonymous with the failings of nuclear technology. The 1986 disaster was sparked by human error: a late-night stress test on the Soviet Union power plant was not done by the book.
That put pressure on one of the plant’s reactors and exposed flaws in its design and construction. A buildup of pressure triggered explosions and fires that could not be contained. The reactor leaked radiated material into the atmosphere for eight months before a large cement shield — dubbed the sarcophagus — was built over the reactor.
It allowed Chernobyl’s other reactors to continue working; one kept producing electricity until 2000. The three remaining reactors entered their decommissioning phase in 2015. Some of Chernobyl’s sister plants, built using the same technology, worked until 2013 before also being decommissioned.
The catastrophe at that plant in what is now the Ukraine has made Chernobyl an icon for the antinuclear movement. Chernobyl was the single worst nuclear power plant accident in history until a similar problem at Japan’s Fukushima plant after the tsunami in 2011 also resulted in the release of radiated material.
Together, the two dominate any discussion about an energy mix that might contain nuclear power. Chernobyl in particular has become a symbol for groups that oppose Eskom’s plans to build 9 600 megawatts (MW) of nuclear capacity.
That view of Chernobyl is set to change — solar energy is to rise from the nuclear ashes.
Chinese developers are planning to build 1000MW of solar capacity to the south of Chernobyl. The solar field will cover 2500 hectares and will be developed in the exclusion zone established around the nuclear reactor after the disaster.
Solar panels will come from Golden Concord Holdings, one of the biggest players in China’s renewable energy sector. Its chairperson said in a press release: “There will be remarkable social benefits and economic ones as we try to renovate the once-damaged area with green and renewable energy.”
The plant will be built and operated by the state-owned China National Machinery Corporation.
In its press release, the Ukrainian government said the project will bring R14-billion worth of investment over the next two years and construction will start later this year.
That a plant can be built in the exclusion zone — where locals are only allowed back to the abandoned town of Pripyat twice a year for fear of exposure — is thanks to a new sarcophagus that has been built over the dangerous reactor. Learning from the weakness of the original cover, this mobile sarcophagus was built using 36000 tonnes of steel, making it the heaviest mobile building in the world.
Standing at 108m, it has two cranes inside to help remove the 150 tonnes of nuclear fuel still left at the site. With radiation trapped inside the new shield and a huge solar farm being planned, Chernobyl could become a positive symbol for the move towards renewable energy sources.