Chornobyl plant director dismissed (05/10/98)

Chornobyl plant director dismissed

by Pavel Politiuk
Special to The Ukrainian Weekly

KYIV - The director of the Chornobyl nuclear power facility was fired on May 4, after he had charged that Energoatom, the governmental organization that oversees Ukraine's nuclear energy industry, is ineffective and unnecessary.

Mykola Oberkovych, spokesman for Energoatom, said the main reason for Mr. Parashyn's dismissal was the Chornobyl director's demands that Ukraine's state energy-producing company stop its activity because he said Energoatom had been created illegally and was operating unlawfully.

Serhii Parashyn was released by Nur Nigmatulin, the director of Energoatom, for "serious violations of work discipline."

In a statement released on May 5 Energoatom explained that it was impossible for Mr. Parashyn to continue in his post because of the important position of the Chornobyl nuclear station in Ukraine's energy network.

For his part Mr. Parashyn, who had held the post of director since April 1994, said he is sure his firing was the result of several letters he had written to President Leonid Kuchma and to Energoatom Director Nigmatulin.

"I sent several letters to them in April, in which I explained my position and my vision of the activity of Energoatom, and demanded that this terrible situation [alleged illegal activity] be changed," said Mr. Parashyn.

He told Agence France Presse on May 4, "I was dismissed because I was embarrassing people at Energoatom." He was also quoted by the news agency as saying that "the organization lacks experience and is incapable of insuring the nuclear safety of its power stations."

Meanwhile the Kyiv daily Den said that Mr. Parashyn's firing was political. It quoted President Leonid Kuchma as saying that Mr. Parashyn was dismissed because he had run for election to the Verkhovna Rada. He "engaged himself in his campaign for national deputy and disengaged himself from his work - for this he should have been thrown out a long time ago," said President Kuchma, according to Den.

Mr. Parashyn's firing took place a week before the convention of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, but the former Chornobyl director said he did not link his firing with the upcoming convention. He added, however, that "anything is possible in the difficult political and economic situation in Ukraine."

Mr. Parashyn, an experienced nuclear energy engineer, had staunchly supported the continued operation of the Chornobyl nuclear power plant after the year 2000. Mr. Parashyn's position was clear: "The station is in good condition, and there does not exist any technical point to discontinue operating the station in the future."

In a 1995 memorandum between the Group of Seven industrialized states and Ukraine, Kyiv pledged to close the Chornobyl plant by the year 2000 in exchange for international aid to complete construction of two nuclear facilities, one at Rivne and the other at Khmelnytskyi, and for support in resolving the social and medical problems of Chornobyl's many victims.

Ukraine has also been pressing the EBRD for financial aid to complete the two nuclear facilities. The bank has delayed a final decision due to concerns about safety and the soundness of the loan.

Energoatom announced that Vitalii Tovstonohov, former chief engineer of the station, would replace Mr. Parashyn. During the past few years Mr. Tovstonohov has worked as a department head in the State Committee on Nuclear Energy Affairs.