BERLIN, September 16. /ITAR-TASS/. Ukraine will not be able to complete the construction of the second sarcophagus over the destroyed fourth power unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant without foreign assistance, Germany’s DPA news agency reported on Tuesday.

The agency said quoting German government sources that Kiev was short of at least €615 million for this purpose. The German government sources declined to give details to ITAR-TASS, saying DPA report was reliable.

The Chernobyl NPP nuclear accident occurred on 26 April 1986 in Ukraine (then officially the Ukrainian SSR), which was under the direct jurisdiction of the central authorities of the Soviet Union. An explosion and fire released large quantities of radioactive particles into the atmosphere, which spread over much of the western USSR and Europe.

At present, the fourth power unit of the Chernobyl NPP is under the outdated Shelter sarcophagus, which had been built back in November 1986. The sarcophagus shelters about 180 tonnes of low-enriched uranium 235, as well as 70,000 tonnes of radioactive warped metal, concrete, glassy matter and 35 tonnes of radioactive dust with the aggregate radioactivity of more than 2 million Curie.

The sarcophagus was designed to serve until 2006, so in 1997 the Group of Seven industrialized nations (G-7) agreed it was necessary to build Shelter 2 that would cover the outdated structure. Western donor countries agreed to provide $768 million to Kiev for the construction of the second protective cover. According to DPA, the allocated funds are running out this autumn.