Oleksandr Chalyy, deputy head of President Victor Yushchenko’s secretariat, said ata press briefing on Mondaythe Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant had signed a 5-year USD 505-million deal with the French construction company to build the New Safe Confinement and a 52-month USD 200-million contract with the American energy technology company Holtec International to build Storage for Spent Nuclear Fuel 2, according to president's press office.
Chalyy said President Yushchenko had been in talks with the EBRD, the G8 and the donor states over the past two years to sign these contracts. “The president of Ukraine will personally follow the implementation of these contracts so that they should be implemented according to schedule and properly,” he said.
Chalyy said today’s ceremony to sign these deals was a “launch of a nuclear security project in which Ukraine will work with the world’s leading countries, with the G8.” “This step means Ukraine is proceeding to practical actions aimed at making the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant an environmentally safe facility.”
He added thatthe country'sprominent scientists and nuclear specialists would be involved in the project.
