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Significant pledges boost Chernobyl shelter
Pledges worth roughly $200 million made at a donor meeting in London today
will contribute significantly to the construction of a new safe confinement
for Unit 4 of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant destroyed in the 1986 accident.
The largest contribution, of more than $185 million, was announced by the
G8/EU, with Russia for the first time contributing to the fund. The Government
of Ukraine pledged the equivalent of $22 million. Other members of the fund
also increased their contributions.
The new donations come on top of more than €600 million in cash contributions
already pledged to the fund by 28 donor governments. Total costs are estimated
at more than $1 billion. The new contributions are required for the completion
of the project, which is scheduled for 2008/2009.
The Chernobyl Shelter Fund is managed by the EBRD. President Jean Lemierre
said: We welcome the new donations as a signal for the international
community’s strong commitment to complete the Chernobyl shelter. Ukraine’s new
pledge demonstrates the country’s determination to finalise the project as
planned. We will rely on Ukraine’s continued and competent leadership to meet
the ambitious schedule and the budget.
Ukrainian Minister for Emergency Situations Davyd Zhvaniya, in addressing
concerns voiced by contributors, reassured the Donor Assembly that all
agreements, including on the design of the New Safe Confinement as well as on
the application of EBRD procurement rules and procedures, would be honoured by
the new Ukrainian Government.
The shelter will help transform the destroyed Unit 4 of the Chernobyl Nuclear
Power Plant into an environmentally safe state. Under the plans, an
arch-shaped confinement with a height of 100 meters and a span of 250 meters
will be assembled in a safe area near the site and eventually slid across the
old sarcophagus. It is designed to provide a solid containment for the
remnants of the reactor. It will also be fitted with equipment to undertake
works which will become necessary in the future, such as deconstruction of
unstable parts of the old shelter and the removal of its radioactive inventory.
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