Verkhovna Rada hearing, attended by foreign representatives, focuses on Chornobyl's closure (12/10/00)

Verkhovna Rada hearing, attended by foreign representatives, focuses on Chornobyl's closure

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma told lawmakers from dozens of European parliamentary bodies and representatives of political and financial organizations - who were in Kyiv on December 5 to attend parliamentary hearings on the closure of Chornobyl - that he was disappointed with the slow pace of international aid, which continues to hamper the effort to close the stricken atomic energy complex.

"At times it is difficult for us to understand the logic by which the pace of fulfillment of the obligations is purposefully and obviously slowed down," said President Kuchma.

However, both he and Verkhovna Rada Chairman Ivan Pliusch, who had earlier suggested that if the West was not quick to fulfill its obligations, Ukraine might renege on its commitment and Chornobyl would continue to operate, told European and U.S. diplomats that the last working reactor of the ill-fated nuclear plant would go offline as scheduled at noon on December 15.

Mr. Kuchma made his comments to a group of more than 40 diplomats from many countries of Western Europe participating in a daylong session of the Verkhovna Rada on the problems associated with the closing of the Chornobyl nuclear power plant and the perspectives for the area's future.

The president, who met with the dignitaries prior to the opening of the hearings, emphasized again that Ukraine was not responsible for the Chornobyl tragedy and that it is the world's problem, not Ukraine's alone.

Mr. Kuchma called the task of closing Chornobyl "the business of all mankind" and said that the Ukrainian nation had already paid an unduly high price.

The parliamentary hearings came a little more than a week before the December 15 shutdown date of Chornobyl, which the president had announced in May in accordance with Ukraine's promise to the G-7 in a 1995 agreement signed in Denver to do so in return for financial aid and the development of compensatory energy sources.

Ukraine has complained for the last several years that the West had been dragging on the latter promise, in the form of financial credits for the completion of individual nuclear reactors at atomic energy complexes near the cities of Rivne and Khmelnytskyi. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), which was to supply the funding, had delayed doing so several times, demanding that first Ukraine reform its energy sector and then show that it could run the plants at a profit.

The EBRD finally gave preliminary indication that it would approve a $220 million line of credit late last month, which was to be voted upon by the bank's board of directors on December 7.

EBRD Vice-President Joachim Jahncke, one of the first speakers at the podium during the parliamentary hearings, said that neither the EBRD nor the West would forget Ukraine after Chornobyl finally is mothballed.

"Once Chornobyl is closed, Ukraine will not be left alone. We will be with Ukraine for many years to come," explained Mr. Jahncke. The EBRD executive reminded Ukrainians that the EBRD has invested nearly $1 billion into a variety of Chornobyl projects over the years, including a substantial amount for the reconstruction of a sarcophagus over the destroyed No. 4 reactor and most recently $100 million for the purchase of fossil fuels to tide Ukraine over until the Khmelnytskyi and Rivne plants are completed.

Closing Chornobyl is expected to cost $1.4 billion, with the EBRD supplying $220 million. The European Union has promised $585 million, while the United States France, Sweden and Spain have committed to $350 million, Russia to $105 million and Ukraine's Enerhoatom to $160 million.

Reconstruction of the domed covering around reactor No. 4, commonly referred to as the sarcophagus, will take an additional $758 million, with $713 million of that amount already having been collected at two separate donors' conferences, one in New York in 1997 and the most recent one this past June in Berlin.

Verkhovna Rada Chairman Pliusch presided over the hearings, which involved presentations by Ukrainian ministers and heads of parliamentary committees involved in Chornobyl-related issues, followed by representatives of the various foreign delegations. He stated that, contrary to what many people associated with the Chornobyl nuclear complex have said lately, the plant is not safe.

"Further operation of the Chornobyl nuclear power plant is impossible without large capital investments," explained Mr. Pliusch. He also rejected assertions by opponents of the closing that Ukraine will face energy shortages this winter as a result of the decommissioning. The Parliament chairman explained that if sufficient fuel is available to Ukraine then it would easily compensate for the 5 percent of Ukraine's electricity supplied by Chornobyl by increasing output at thermal and hydroelectric plants. Mr. Pliusch said he is concerned only that the West supply the money to purchase fossil fuels in a timely manner, as it already had promised to do.

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