Chernobyl safety structure short of funds

MOSCOW, Feb. 2 (UPI) -- A shelter to cover and secure the wreckage of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is only half funded and construction may have to stop, Russian officials say.

The new shelter is being built over the existing "sarcophagus" that covers almost 200 tons of melted nuclear fuel rods left inside the damaged reactor as a result of the 1986 disaster, the BBC reported Wednesday.

Following the explosion on April 26, 1986, thousands of workers risked their lives and health to build the sarcophagus, always intended to be temporary, around the reactor.

The new permanent cover is expected to cost $2.2 billion, but despite promises made at successive Group of 8 conferences, funding is still falling short, officials said.

The president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development acknowledges it is a difficult time to raise funds but says countries should think beyond the current economic climate.

"This is such an exceptional case," Thomas Mirrow says. "I think with all the major players in the international community being involved, it should be possible to get the money."

The largest contributor to the fund is Europe; Russia, where Chernobyl was designed and built in the Soviet era, is 10th, the BBC said.