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Key contract for decommissioning of Chernobyl awarded from EBRD's Nuclear Safety Account
The first hardware contract for the decommissioning of Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (ChNPP) has been awarded by Energoatom, the Ukrainian nuclear utility, and ChNPP. Worth EUR 69 million, the contract is for the construction of an interim spent fuel facility, which will allow 3,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel and control rods to be stored in dry and safe conditions. The spent fuel pools of the three remaining ChNPP units will be unloaded into the facility, allowing the decommissioning to proceed in safe conditions to the most difficult part of the process.
The contract is funded through a grant from the Nuclear Safety Account (NSA), which is administered by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). Ukrainian manufacturers are expected to receive 50 per cent of the total cost of the contract.
"The funding of this first major decommissioning facility as well as a liquid radioactive waste processing facility, to be ordered soon, form part of the undertakings committed by the international community and defined in the Memorandum of Understanding. This was signed in 1995 by the Group of seven and the Ukrainian Government for the closure of ChNPP by 2000," said Joachim Jahnke, Vice President for Nuclear Safety at the EBRD. He continued: "This facility, contracted through an international tendering process, is paving the way for the implementation of a broader decommissioning programme being prepared with the assistance of the international community."
The NSA is administered by the EBRD on behalf of 15 contributors: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Community. To date, contributions have reached a total of EUR 257 million. This has been committed to projects in Bulgaria, Lithuania, Russia and now in Ukraine.
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