The great steel arch that has been inched into place over the blackened and crumbling “sarcophagus” containing the radioactive carcass of Chornobyl’s Reactor No. 4 is an extraordinary feat of human ingenuity. Resembling a vast, gleaming hangar, it was designed to withstand extreme temperatures, tornadoes and corrosion for at least a century, and it had to be built far from the toxic reactor and then slid, all 32,000 tons of it, into place.
It was also a feat of international cooperation. The $1.5 billion in financing, arranged by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, comprised donations from the United States, the European Union and about 30 other nations; the bank itself provided more than $500 million. The construction was by a French consortium, and the workers came from many lands.
