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pTamok writes:

While many will have forgotten about the steam explosion and subsequent graphite fire at the Chernobyl nuclear reactor in what is now Ukraine (and many readers won't have been born when it happened), there are still very many people working on making it environmentally safer than it would otherwise be, or were, up until a few days ago.

The damaged reactor was encased in a hastily built 'sarcophagus' to minimise the mixing of radioactive debris with the general environment, especially the dust. The 'sarcophagus' was showing signs of collapse, which would have released a considerable amount of radioactive dust, so as a co-operative endeavour between the Ukraine, the European Union and the USA, the Chernobyl Shelter Fund was set up in 1997 to create an environmentally safe confinement that would last at least 100 years.

The new, safe confinement structure is being built on rails to be moved over the existing buildings, and a major milestone in the project has been achieved this month, as the first half of the new structure has been built and moved into a holding position: that's 12,800 tonnes moved just over 100 metres sideways.

However, progress is threatened by Ukraine's political and economic crisis. Ukrainian officials say the project, originally scheduled for completion in 2015, will not be finished on time. Additionally, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, which partially funds the project, is not expecting contributions from Ukraine in the near term.

Edited to reflect stalled progress missed by the submitter.