Chernobyl: contract for radioactive waste management facility is signed
The Ukrainian ministry of energy, represented by Energoatom, the national nuclear energy generating company, and the German company NUKEM nuclear GmbH have signed a 33.3 million euro contract to build a radioactive waste management facility near the Chernobyl power plant. The facility will be called the 'industrial complex for solid radwaste management' (ICSRM) and will contain a solid waste retrieval facility, a solid waste processing plant and a repository for the disposal of short-lived waste, Its construction forms part of the European Union's efforts to ensure the power plant is decommissioned and replaced by more environmentally friendly and safer power plants. The European Commission has been involved in efforts to decommission the Chernobyl power plant since 1994, through its Tacis nuclear safety programme. So far, it has provided the Ukraine with 340 million euro in technical assistance.