New Safe Confinement

The New Safe Confinement (NSC or New Shelter) is the structure intended to contain the nuclear reactor at Chernobyl, Ukraine, part of which was destroyed by the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. The idea is to prevent the reactor complex from leaking radioactive material into the environment. Originally planned to be in place by 2005, as of 2011 the confinement is expected to be completed by the French consortium Novarka in 2015.

A part of the Shelter Implementation Plan funded by the Chernobyl Shelter Fund, the NSC is designed to contain the radioactive remains of Chernobyl Unit 4 for the next 100 years. It is intended to replace the present sarcophagus, that was hastily constructed by Chernobyl liquidators after a "beyond design-basis accident" destroyed reactor 4 on April 26, 1986.

The word "confinement" is used rather than the traditional "containment" to emphasize the difference between the "containment" of radioactive gases that is the primary focus of most reactor containment buildings, and the "confinement" of solid radioactive waste that is the primary purpose of the New Safe Confinement.