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France donates €40 million to cleanup of Soviet nuclear fleet
Support for EBRD-managed Northern Dimension Environmental Partnership
France is donating €40 million to the nuclear window of the EBRD-managed
Northern Dimension Environmental Partnership (NDEP) Support Fund, which is the
principal multilateral financing vehicle for implementing the European Union’s
Northern Dimension initiative in the area of environment. As part of its
broader environmental mandate for the north-west of Russia, the Fund addresses
environmental, safety and security hazards posed by the aging decommissioned
Soviet nuclear fleet in the Barents Sea. With France’s contribution it now
stands at €160 million.
The latest pledge to the Fund comes as part of France’s contribution to the G8
Global Partnership Against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass
Destruction, launched last year. The EBRD’s French director Jean-Pierre Landau
expressed his country’s desire that the Fund becomes “the central player in
this priority area for the G8 Partnership.” He further underlined France’s
expertise in the civilian use of nuclear power, which he hopes can lend
support to the Fund’s activities.
France’s donation follows the signing in Stockholm in May of the Framework
Agreement on a Multilateral Nuclear Environmental Programme in the Russian
Federation (MNEPR). The agreement provides a framework under which Russia and
the international community can implement projects in the area of nuclear
safety, radiation protection and radioactive waste management.
In addition to radioactive waste stemming from the operation of nuclear
submarines and other nuclear vessels, there are roughly 40,000 spent nuclear
fuel units in many areas of the Barents Sea region. The nuclear material is
inadequately stored – some of it on land and some in submarines, some of which
are threatening to sink. Typically, the fuel is highly enriched and poses an
environmental threat and a security risk, Vince Novak, the director of the
EBRD’s Nuclear Safety Department, warned.
The international community created a “nuclear window” as part of the NDEP
Support Fund to improve management of the waste in the Barents Sea area. The
EBRD manages the Fund because of its experience in Russia, and its specific
knowledge in managing funds to deal with the nuclear legacy of the Soviet era.
The Northern Dimension Environmental Partnership was launched in 2001 by the
European Commission, Russia, EBRD, EIB, NIB and the World Bank as part of the
Northern Dimension (initiated in 1997). The Support Fund was set up in July
2002, initially backed by €50 million from the European Commission and €10
million each from Russia, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. Canada has
pledged €20 million recently.
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