At Chernobyl, Building a Shelter for a Shelter

from National Public Radio

The ruined Chernobyl nuclear facility still contains some 200 tons of radioactive fuel. A "sarcophagus" -- a steel and concrete shell built soon after the disaster to contain the radiation is increasingly unstable.

Engineers plan to slide an enormous Quonset hut-shaped cover over a breached reactor to keep more radiation from reaching the atmosphere. NPR's Melissa Block talks to Warren Stern of the U.S. State Department.

Broadcast Dates

• All Things Considered, April 21, 2006