Building Chernobyl's Mega TombMarch 19, 2017

On April 26, 1986, a catastrophic blast blew the lid off Chernobyl's Reactor No.4. The explosion was 400 times more potent than the Hiroshima bomb, ignighting fires that burned for 10 days, sending a radioactive cloud across Europe. In the aftermath, ill-equipped workers heroically sealed the smouldering reactor in a concrete sarcophagus, but the hastily constructed shelter was only built to last 30 years. Now, 30 countries including the UK, France and the US have come together to pay for a 1.2 billion Euro international rescue plan to build a mighty 25,000-ton steel shelter which will entomb the radiation and last for a century. This documentary follows the team of international engineers as they race against time to build the structure over the disaster site.

Building Chernobyl's Mega Tomb was broadcast on SBS ONE at Saturday 17 March 2018, 11:25. This episode was initially placed on Sunday 19 March 2017.