London (Platts)--30Jul2007

Construction of a new shelter for the Chernobyl reactor destroyed in a 1986 
accident has fallen about seven years behind schedule, primarily due to the 
failure to award a construction contract, the Government Accountability Office
said in a report released July 27. 

"The lack of a contract is partly the result of a lengthy disagreement between
the Ukraine and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development," GAO
said. "Technical uncertainties ... have also contributed to schedule slippages
and threaten to further delay the project," GAO said in its report. The
estimated cost to complete the project is currently $1.2 billion, but
"escalating prices for labor and materials" and other factors "could raise
costs further," it said. 

The report, GAO-07-923, is available online
(http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d07923.pdf).