Ukraine's president lashes out against Cabinet for gaps in Chornobyl financing (06/02/02)

Ukraine's president lashes out against Cabinet for gaps in Chornobyl financing

by Maryna Makhnonos
Special to The Ukrainian Weekly

KYIV - Following a discussion on the Chornobyl nuclear disaster's aftereffects, with European Commission Chairman Romano Prodi, President Leonid Kuchma lashed out against Ukrainian government officials for gaps in financing Chornobyl-related programs.

At a special meeting on May 16, Mr. Kuchma chastised his Cabinet members for allocating insufficient funds for Chornobyl expenses in the 2002 budget.

Projects at the nuclear power plant - site of the world's worst nuclear disaster - need 42 million hrv ($8 million), but the budget calls for only 26 million hrv ($5 million), Mr. Kuchma said.

The budget was approved by the previous Parliament and it cannot be modified without extraordinary measures.

"Who was thinking, and what they were guided by when they took such responsibility (to cut financing)?," President Kuchma said angrily at the meeting.

Following the 1986 accident at the Chornobyl plant, workers built a concrete-and-steel sarcophagus encasing the damaged fourth reactor. The plant was shut down for good on December 15, 2000. However, disassembly work remains. Experts warn that the nuclear fuel and wastes inside the sarcophagus are at risk of combustion if rain seeps in.

In January-March, Ukraine paid 200 million hrv ($38 million) to compensate victims of the disaster, but still needs to pay them 300 million hrv ($56 million), as well as the wage arrears to Chornobyl staff that increased by five percent this year, Mr. Kuchma said.

"These debts don't make us look good," he said. The total budget allocated for Chornobyl accident relief over past years has amounted to $5 billion as of 2000.

Mr. Kuchma's criticism came a day after his informal meeting with Mr. Prodi in Brussels. Earlier this year, Mr. Kuchma had criticized Ukraine's Western partners for what he said was the groundless delay of aid to complete two atomic reactors that would compensate for the power and jobs lost at the Chornobyl plant.

The Brussels meeting seemed to prompt the president to review the internal administration of finances that have already been granted by the international community.

Mr. Kuchma was especially critical about the way $710 million of international funds have been spent for the shelter project, or sarcophagus, saying that 8 million hrv ($1.5 million) was found to be spent inappropriately.

The Chornobyl issue will be on the agenda of a meeting of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development's top officials later in June. The EBRD is expected to assess whether to provide Ukraine assistance in the nuclear sector.

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