EEC/CIS cooperation agreement on Chernobyl
A Cooperation Agreement between the European Economic Community and Russia, Byelorussia and the Ukraine (the three countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States most closely concerned with the Chernobyl nuclear accident) was formally signed in Brussels on 23 June 1992. With institutes in the three CIS States, the Commission will carry out an extensive programme to study the nature of the radioactive contamination resulting from the accident, to broaden technical skills needed to control such accidents in the future, and to improve emergency management procedures. Programme funding includes a Community contribution of ECU 4 million plus ECU 2 million from participating institutes in the Member States. The formal agreement is the culmination of a process of cooperation in which scientists from over forty teams in both East and West have been meeting on a regular basis to compare scientific approaches and methodologies. The next stage will see the establishment of a radio-analytical field laboratory, financial support for the research of local scientists and a training scheme for scientists from the Commonwealth of Independent States.