Reactor 4 of the Ukrainian Chernobyl nuclear power plant has been covered with a new arch and is the largest mobile structure ever built by humans. This time, it has been co-financed by the EU.

“Twenty-two years after the creation of the Chernobyl Protection Fund, the new protective arch has just been inaugurated in Ukraine,” Antón Úsov, representative of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in charge of the project, said on Facebook.

The new protective metal frame, which takes the form of an arch that is 110 metres high, 150 metres wide, 256 metres long, and weighs over 30,000 tonnes. The structure has replaced the reinforced concrete sarcophagus built after the explosion of reactor 4 in 1986, according to EURACTIV’s media partner Euroefe.

Construction began in 2007 at a total cost of €1.5 billion, of which €700 million are EBRD funds.

“With a lifespan of at least 100 years, the metal frame will resolve the issue of dismantling reactor 4’s old one,” explained Úsov.