Verkhovna Rada chairman suggests Chornobyl will not close without more funds (11/12/00)

Verkhovna Rada chairman suggests Chornobyl will not close without more funds

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - Verkhovna Rada Chairman Ivan Pliusch told U.S. Ambassador Carlos Pascual on November 3 that he would work to block the closure of the Chornobyl nuclear power plant on December 15 if Ukraine does not receive compensation for construction of alternate reactors and organic fuel purchases.

"I will join those initiating revision of the decision to close the Chornobyl nuclear power plant," said the chairman of Ukraine's Parliament, according to Interfax-Ukraine.

Mr. Pliusch's remarks came several days after the National Security and Defense Council ordered the government to plan purchases of additional fuel rods for the Chornobyl plant for next year. The plant has symbolized the danger of nuclear energy since it was the site in April 1986 of the world's largest nuclear disaster.

Ukraine agreed to deactivate the last remaining working reactor at Chornobyl by December 15, after years of pressure from the international community to do so - but only under the condition that it would receive European financing to finish two nuclear reactors, one at the Khmelnytskyi complex, the other at the Rivne complex. The country is already largely dependent on Russia for its energy resources and would be even more so after Chornobyl closes. The plant provides 5 percent of the country's required electricity.

Europe has withheld the funding, which Kyiv said had been promised by the G-7 most developed countries at their 1995 gathering in Denver, until it determines Ukraine has achieved energy sector reform and can show that the two plants will be profitable.

Ambassador Pascual attempted to downplay Mr. Pliusch's warning during a press conference after his meeting with the Verkhovna Rada leader. He said Ukraine had received $100 million from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in October for the purchase of carbon fuels as temporary compensation to maintain Ukraine's energy output after Chornobyl closes. He explained that the money had already been transferred, but that the agreement still needed the Ukrainian Parliament's approval.

"The most direct and quickest compensation that Ukraine will get as a direct result of the closing of Chornobyl is that loan," explained Mr. Pascual.

Kyiv's goal, however, is also to secure the $210 million line of credit the country desperately needs to finish the reactors at Khmelnytskyi and Rivne. The two reactors, which have been under construction since the mid-1980s, are currently about 85 to 90 percent complete. Ukraine claims that it could finish the project for about $600 million, but requires a total of $1.5 billion to cover the costs of insurance, interest payments on loans and compensation for Western advisors.

EBRD Chairman Jean Lemierre, who held talks with representatives of the Ukrainian government, including President Leonid Kuchma, during a two-day visit on November 3-4, said Ukraine finally had met most of the criteria for obtaining the loan. He underscored, however, that a final decision would be made only after the International Monetary Fund gave Ukraine's macroeconomic situation a passing grade.

"We are very close to resolution of the problem," said Mr. Lemierre.

After meeting with the head of the EBRD, President Kuchma assured journalists that Chornobyl would close on schedule and that a decision on financing of the two Ukrainian reactors would be made before then.

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