EDITORIAL: The G-7 and Chornobyl (04/28/96)

EDITORIAL

The G-7 and Chornobyl

It was billed as the "nuclear safety summit," thus, the Moscow meeting of the Group of Seven should have focused attention on the Chornobyl nuclear power station, given that all the world appeared to be fixated on seeing that notorious plant closed and that the summit was being held a week before the 10th anniversary date of the world's worst nuclear accident.

But, the summit did not live up to its billing. Instead of spending time discussing how best to go about actually shutting down the Chornobyl plant, leaders of the world's top industrial powers opted to restate their previously agreed upon position and to hold a political rally of sorts, as they went out of their way it make Boris Yeltsin look presidential. And Mr. Yeltsin played his part, doing his best to look like leader No. 8 and repeatedly referring to the participants as the Group of Eight.

The New York Times observed that, while the meeting pushed for a nuclear test ban and measures to halt smuggling of nuclear bomb ingredients, it also was "noteworthy for its warm embrace of the embattled Mr. Yeltsin who is running for re-election in June." The Christian Science Monitor reported that "Leaders of the world's seven largest industrial democracies made little secret of the fact that they back Mr. Yeltsin in his struggle against Communist Gennadiy Zyuganov..." Izvestiya reported that the G-7 meeting was perfectly staged to support Mr. Yeltsin's re-election campaign, noting that G-7 leaders had "avoided at all cost" any criticism of the Russian president's Chechnya policy.

French President Jacques Chirac was quoted as saying that the greatness of Russia is being restored, and Mr. Yeltsin boasted that "The status of Russia, not only as a great power, but also as one of the leading countries of the world was recognized." President Bill Clinton tried to avoid issues of conflict with his Russian counterpart, but then he bent over too far backwards when he compared the conflict in Chechnya with the American Civil War. For that he was criticized by many observers, including Helsinki Watch, which stated that via his remarks Mr. Clinton had "abdicated all responsibility" for advocating improved human rights in Russia. The New York Times characterized the Civil War/Chechen war analogy as "lame." (Mr. Yeltsin is no Abe Lincoln.)

But, even though no new ground regarding the Chornobyl nuclear power plant was broken at the G-7 summit, Ukraine appears to have come away from the nine-state meeting with at least some satisfaction.

Most news reports about the summit referred simply to a general reiteration of the G-7's support for Chornobyl's closure and President Kuchma's reaffirmation that he intends to close the plant by the year 2000 - basically a restating of the Memorandum of Understanding signed in December in Ottawa. Only a few news sources even bothered to report Mr. Kuchma's caveat: that this will be done provided the funding, including the previously pledged $3.l billion ($2.6 billion in credits and $500 million in grants), is there. But there was another bit of news.

As Ukraine's Minister of Environmental Protection and Nuclear Safety Yuriy Kostenko pointed out, "A very important phrase has been incorporated into the final version of the document." He was referring to the fact that a resolution contained in the "Memorandum on Nuclear Safety and Security" stated the G-7's intention to examine the problem of the sarcophagus over the No. 4 reactor at the Chornobyl plant.

And so, Ukraine is hopeful. Minister Kostenko noted that the summit is "a source of hope which will allow us to begin implementing solutions to the Chornobyl problems soon." He added that Ukraine will now begin signing specific agreements so that the funds promised can actually be released and the decommissioning of Chornobyl can begin.

Now, perhaps the G-7 and other international bodies will indeed come through with the promised monetary assistance and this dangerous plant will indeed be closed. Ten years after the accident at Chornobyl it's about time that the world realized this is not an internal affair of Ukraine.

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