EU pledges aid for new Chernobyl sarcophagus

The European Commission has pledged €110 million toward the building of a new sarcophagus for the Chernobyl nuclear plant - an arched, cyclopean structure which is to slide over the damaged reactor and to provide Ukraine with roughly 100 years to dispose of the nuclear waste.

Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso and French Prime Minister Francois Fillon will co-chair an international donors conference in Kiev on Tuesday (19 April). An estimated €740 million in total is needed to replace...