Commission proposes aid of up to ECU 100 million for Chernobyl
The European Commission has proposed, in a draft Council Decision adopted on 3 September 1997, to allocate up to ECU 100 million to the Ukraine for work on the Chernobyl sarcophagus. This would bring the total amount of EU assistance to the Ukraine, for this purpose, to some ECU 200 million. The sarcophagus covers Chernobyl Unit 4 which melted down in April 1986 and has been found by an international expert team to be in dire need of repairs in order to prevent radiation leakage. The money will come from the European Union's TACIS programme, which also financed the expert studies which led to the present technical proposal. The TACIS programme has allocated some ECU 505 million to the support of nuclear safety in the New Independent States (NIS) since its inception in 1991. The objectives of the TACIS nuclear safety programme include improvement of the safety of the nuclear power plants in operation and strengthening of the regulatory authorities. With regard to the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, the European Union (EU) also provides technical and financial assistance for the decommissioning of units 1-3 (including storage of radioactive waste that will result from decommissioning), for reducing the social impact of the closure of Chernobyl, as well as for assisting in alleviating the consequences of the accident and providing medical help to the victims. The Commission's proposal falls within the context of the strategy agreed by the G7 Heads of State and Government at their Denver Summit of June 1997. At this summit the G7 group and the European Commission endorsed the setting up of a multilateral funding mechanism to assist Ukraine in transforming the existing Chernobyl sarcophagus into a safe and environmentally stable system, with measures as described in the Shelter Implementation Plan (SIP). The SIP is composed of 22 tasks to be executed over a period of eight to ten years to secure and stabilize the sarcophagus. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has been asked to provide programme management and to manage the funds for the overall project in a special account (the Chernobyl Shelter Fund). Current estimates for conducting the SIP run to some US$750 million. Ukraine will be contributing in kind to the project, though the details of its contribution still need to be worked out.
Countries
Ukraine