London: The Chernobyl nuclear power plant, site of one of the most catastrophic nuclear accident, may be reborn as a solar power plant, according to the Ukrainian government. It has decided to construct a series of solar panels in the exclusion zone that surrounds the site of the Chernobyl nuclear power station, the Guardian reported.
In 1986, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant suffered a catastrophic meltdown — one of the worst in history. It led to the deaths of an estimated 100,000 people, and has caused continuing problems for the animals in the area. The 1,600 square miles would be a perfect place to build a solar farm. Nobody can enter the area anyway, so filling the space with solar panels would help make it useful once again, according to the Guardian.
The area still has the required infrastructure to deliver large amounts of energy because the plant still has the transmission lines from the nuclear reactor. “We already have high-voltage transmission lines that were previously used for the nuclear stations, the land is very cheap and we have many people trained to work at power plants,” the Guardian quoted Ukraine's environment minister Ostap Semerak as saying. “We have normal European priorities, which means having the best standards with the environment and clean energy ambitions.”
According to the California Energy Commission, the new solar farm would generate about 1,000 megawatts of power to the country per year, which is about a third of what Chernobyl nuclear power plant supplied, the Business Insider has said. The new solar plant will also make Ukraine less dependent on Russia.
