The 26th
April will mark the 20th anniversary of the nuclear accident at
Chernobyl. Since then, the European Commission has allocated over ˆ470 million
to Chernobyl-related projects. This assistance has supported safety
improvements at Chernobyl, and provided help to people whose lives are still
affected by the accident. The Commission has supported projects which address
the social, health and environmental consequences of the disaster. Over and
above the aid provided specifically to cope with the aftermath of Chernobyl,
the Commission has also made a major contribution to the improvement of nuclear
safety across the countries of the former Soviet Union.
The Commissioner for
External Relations and the European Neighbourhood Policy, Benita
Ferrero-Waldner, said: “The European Union has been at the forefront of the
international efforts to mitigate the consequences of the Chernobyl accident. Overall
the European Commission has allocated nearly half a billion euros to Chernobyl
related projects, and we will continue working to ensure that the legacy of the
Chernobyl disaster will be a safer environment for the people of the region and
a more secure world for us all”.
Making the Chernobyl
site safe
As the largest donor to the
Chernobyl Shelter Fund, the Commission has pledged some ˆ240 million (over a
quarter of the total) for the construction of a new shell over the damaged
reactor. This will prevent releases of radiation from the existing
“sarcophagus”, now almost 20 years old. In addition the Commission has
allocated ˆ50 million to the Industrial Complex for Solid Radioactive Waste
Management (ICSRM), currently under construction, which will safely handle
waste from the Chernobyl site.
The Commission has provided
a further ˆ20 million to the Nuclear Safety Account, a fund managed by the
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, around half of which covers
projects at Chernobyl
In 1995, the G7 and Ukraine
signed a Memorandum of Understanding where Ukraine committed having all the
remaining reactors at Chernobyl closed by 2000. The Commission played a major
role in this agreement and, amongst other initiatives, committed ˆ65 million to
help Ukraine compensate for the additional costs of power generation following
the closure of the reactors.
Health and environmental
consequences
The Commission has
allocated ˆ100 million to research and assistance to help mitigate the health
and environmental consequences of the accident. Researchers from the EU and
former Soviet Union addressed issues including: improved methods for treating
highly exposed accident victims, decontamination strategies for urban and rural
areas, measures to reduce contamination in foodstuffs, epidemiological studies
of exposed populations, emergency management and the development of a European
atlas of Chernobyl contamination.
Examples of the assistance
provided in this context include: equipment and training for the diagnosis and
treatment of thyroid cancer in young people, facilities to produce thyroxin
(for the sufferers of thyroid cancer), iodization of table salt to help prevent
the onset of thyroid cancer, information centres in several settlements both to
inform and encourage more active involvement of the local population in the
recovery process.
Socio-economic
consequences
The Commission has granted
ˆ3.5 million to alleviate the social impact of the closure of Chernobyl by
creating alternative sources of employment. This targeted people living in
Slavutich (mostly workers from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, employees of
auxiliary industries and their families).
The Commission has also
allocated ˆ6 million to the Cooperation for Rehabilitation Programme (CORE) in
Belarus. This funds economic, social, health, and cultural projects which
promote socio-economic recovery in the four contaminated regions of Belarus. The
programme will also support several projects to create better employment
conditions in the region.
Nuclear safety
The Chernobyl accident
spurred efforts to improve the safety of nuclear plants designed in the former
Soviet Union. In addition to the aid for the Chernobyl site mentioned above, a
further ˆ900 million has been allocated to other nuclear safety projects in the
CIS. The Tacis Nuclear Safety Programme covers a vast array of projects to
improve the safety of nuclear installations and resolve nuclear waste issues,
particularly in North-West Russia.
The Program has allocated
large sums to the modernization of the nuclear industry in the former Soviet
Union, where nuclear power plants have shown clear progressed a long way
towards meeting internationally recognized nuclear safety standards. The
Commission has proposed to continue its assistance to improve the nuclear
safety in third countries over the next financial period (2007-2013) though a
new Nuclear Safety Instrument.
