FACT SHEETS: Issues discussed in U.S.-Ukraine meetings (06/11/00)

FACT SHEETS: Issues discussed in U.S.-Ukraine meetings

The following fact sheets were released by the White House Office of the Press Secretary.

Chornobyl closure

President Kuchma's announcement today that Ukraine will close the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant by December 15, 2000, represents a major milestone for Ukraine, as well as the United States and other G-7 nations, which have led the international effort to close the plant. Ukraine's actions will improve nuclear safety for the people of this important nation and will give a greater sense of security for all neighboring nations, which have lived too long in the shadow of the world's worst civilian nuclear accident.

In response to today's closure announcement, President Clinton today pledged additional assistance of $78 million from the United States for the Chornobyl sarcophagus project, which will reconstruct and stabilize the structure that covers the ruined reactor No. 4 at the Chornobyl plant.

In addition, the United States will fund a business incubator for the neighboring town of Slavutych in recognition of the economic impact that closure of the nuclear facility will have on the local population. The U.S. Department of Labor, in cooperation with the Ukrainian Ministry of Labor, has also committed to a project to address the needs of workers displaced by Chornobyl's closure. Moreover, the Department of Energy will be providing an additional $2 million in nuclear safety assistance, part of which will be used to help with the safe shutdown of Chornobyl.

The United States will work with Ukraine and the G-7 to obtain the remaining funds needed to complete the sarcophagus project at the second Chornobyl sarcophagus pledging conference, to be held on July 6 in Berlin.

In 1995 the United States, the other G-7 countries and Ukraine signed a Memorandum of Understanding on closure of the Chornobyl nuclear power plant. Since 1995 the G-7 and Ukraine have worked together to mobilize nearly $2 billion in international financial institutions energy sector loans to help Ukraine develop a more reliable and stable energy sector. The G-7 have provided nearly $1 billion in grant funds for Chornobyl site safety projects, for decommissioning facilities and to repair the Chornobyl sarcophagus.

To date, the United States has provided over $200 million in assistance for nuclear safety in Ukraine. Approximately $100 million has been dedicated to safety improvements to Chornobyl and other nuclear power plants as well as regulatory assistance, $22 million for construction of a plant to provide heat for Chornobyl decommissioning activities, and a previous $78 million for the sarcophagus project.

Nuclear safety assistance

President Clinton today announced a $2 million expansion of the U.S. nuclear safety assistance program with Ukraine. The funding will support closure of the Chornobyl nuclear power plant and nuclear safety improvements at Ukraine's other four nuclear power plants. Nuclear power provides over 40 percent of Ukraine's electricity generation.

The work extends U.S.-supported cooperative efforts to improve the safety of Soviet-designed reactors in Ukraine. These efforts began in 1992 and have resulted in significant improvements to safety at Ukraine's nuclear power plants. The work is implemented by the U.S. Department of Energy in cooperation with Ukraine's Ministry of Fuel and Energy and its nuclear utility, Energoatom. This funding will support work in the following areas:

Decontamination and decommissioning (D&D) planning and safety assessment assistance, through the Chornobyl Center's Slavutych Laboratory, to support closure of the Chornobyl nuclear power plant. Currently, only the planning document for unit 1 has been completed, which has allowed its de-fueling. The additional funding will assure the completion of D&D planning documents for units 2 and 3; maintenance and repair capability at Westron in Kharkiv, a joint venture between Khartron and Westinghouse Electric Company, for the 11 Safety Parameter Display Systems that the United States has provided to Ukraine's VVER-1000 nuclear power plants; operation safety upgrades, which will be undertaken at Ukraine's other nuclear power plants.

The United States is investing $26 million to install 11 Safety Parameter Display Systems in Ukraine's most modern nuclear power plants, the VVER-1000s. These systems provide nuclear power plant operators with rapid access to hundreds of signals from operational and safety systems so that the operators can quickly and efficiently deal with accident situations. Lack of a system of this kind was a factor in the Three Mile Island nuclear accident in 1979. These systems are manufactured by a joint venture, Westron, between Westinghouse Electric company in the United States and Khartron in Kharkiv, Ukraine. Under this new initiative, Westron will develop the capability to repair printed circuit boards and system components and maintain an in-country stock of complex electronic boards to provide quickly for the repair needs of Safety Parameter Display Systems quickly. Other activities include providing fire safety equipment at additional nuclear power plants.

Small and medium enterprise development

President Clinton announced today plans to establish a multi-million-dollar micro-enterprise credit program for Ukraine, modeled after the successful Fundusz Mikro program in Poland and a new, five-year, $25 million program called BIZPRO to support the development of small and medium-sized private businesses, a key to sustainable economic growth in Ukraine.

Micro-enterprise credit program: The United States, the Polish Fundusz Mikro and Ukraine will work together on this initiative to address a major constraint to economic growth in Ukraine - a severe lack of credit resources for small business ventures. The government of Ukraine has agreed to provide the necessary legal and regulatory environment to create this program and ensure its success.

More than 3 million Ukrainians are involved in small and micro-businesses. Many lack business experience, reside in rural areas and were formerly engaged in agricultural activities. They have been deprived of opportunities to engage in business due in part to a lack of access to credit, training and business support services available in cities.

President Clinton, a longtime strong supporter of micro-credit programs said on April 5, 2000, at the White House Conference on the New Economy: "Promotion of capital formation at the grassroots level is one of the most powerful tools to attack poverty." The Fundusz Mikro program in Poland, established at President Clinton's initiative in 1994 by the Polish-American Enterprise Fund, has provided over 33,000 small loans averaging about $2,000 to over 20,000 entrepreneurs.

BIZPRO: BIZPRO is aimed at improving business management skills, competitiveness and productivity; enhancing the policy environment for small business growth; and increasing access to financial services for small businesses. Over the past five years, U.S. assistance for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) has resulted in the development of 15 business service centers and three business incubators throughout Ukraine to transfer skills and information on operating a business in a market economy, reaching over 30,000 SME clients in Ukraine, over 35 percent of whom were women.

BIZPRO will focus on the broader business service industry, including business centers, trade and professional associations, consultants, research and information services, and financial services. The BIZPRO program will provide support for policy and regulatory reform, including work with regional and local level officials and business associations to improve the environment for SMEs in Ukraine. BIZPRO will also focus on the expansion of micro-finance options through non-government finance organizations. This work will build on U.S. assistance programs that have supported the development of 11 model credit unions in Ukraine

Combating trafficking in human beings

The governments of the United States and Ukraine will co-sponsor a workshop on combating trafficking in women and children for international law enforcement officials from June 21-23, in Kyiv. Officials from key destination countries (Turkey, Israel, Germany, Italy, Greece, the Netherlands) and transit countries (Czech Republic, Poland, Albania, Hungary, Romania, Moldova) will coordinate approaches and discuss solutions with their Ukrainian hosts for combating trafficking in human beings.

International organizations invited include the European Union, United Nations, OSCE, ILO and International Organization on Migration. The United States and Ukraine have worked together on a comprehensive anti-trafficking effort since 1997. The United States has dedicated more than $5 million for initiatives to advance shared goals of prevention of trafficking; protection of and assistance for victims; and prosecution of traffickers.

In addition to work with law enforcement officials, the United States sponsors information campaigns to reach out to potential victims and increase public awareness of methods used by traffickers. It also supports Ukrainian non-governmental organizations working on trafficking prevention and victim assistance. With USAID funding, Winrock International established trafficking prevention centers in Lviv, Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk serving at-risk women through job skills training, hotlines, counseling and referrals.

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