At today’s meeting on urgent measures to reform
Ukraine’s municipal economy, Victor Yushchenko remarked that “the
nation that consumes nuclear energy must know how to store used nuclear
fuel and understand some controversial aspects of how power plants
function,” President's press office reported.
He said Ukraine should formulate a atomic energy
concept. Our country has four nuclear power plants with fifteen units
but we do not know what to do with used nuclear fuel. According to
international agreements, it is transported to the Russian Federation
but the price we pay for these services constantly grows. Over the past
three years, it increased from USD 245 to 720. This year, the country
will have to spend USD 120 mln. However, this fuel has to be returned
to Ukraine by 2012. We must solve the problem by that time, he said.
The Head of State added that it was really important
to distinguish between used nuclear fuel and nuclear waste. Waste can
no longer be used, while fuel contains uranium and plutonium, which can
be reused for nuclear reactors.
