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Ukrainian Nuclear Waste Storage Facility to Be Operable By 2040, Paper Says

Posted on: Tuesday, 21 March 2006, 12:00 CST

The nuclear waste storage facility in Chernobyl is expected to be built by 2010, the director-general of the Chernobyl nuclear plant, Ihor Hramotkin, has said. However, all nuclear waste from Chernobyl will be gathered and put into the storage facility no earlier than 2040, he said. Despite opinions that a construction of another shelter for the ruined reactor in Chernobyl is a waste of money, First Deputy Prime Minister Stanislav Stashevskyy said that no-one had put forward a better project. The following is the text of the article by Valentyn Semenyuk entitled "Chernobyl Gordian knot" published in Uryadovyy Kuryer on 15 March; subheadings have been inserted editorially:

Foreign partners

The director-general of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Ihor Hramotkin, imparted news to us: it is planned to complete construction of a dry nuclear waste storage facility by 2010. But this decision is not final yet. The donors' council will decide on who will build and what will be built.

What has to be decided in this case? A Ukrainian national tender has been conducted, and the Holtec company won, gaining the right to build the facility. Everything seems to be like this, but... [ellipsis as published] The previous designer of the storage facility, the Framatome company from France, has applied to Ukraine, requesting it continue construction at least jointly with the Americans. What do we need failures and alarmists for, as they have not justified our expectations, and the worst thing is that they have made the country pay several million through the nose for their own technological mistakes. But when a problem for them is in the air and we have a new partner, the Holtec company, the Framatome company remembered its image and stated its willingness to go on with the construction. It offered 60m dollars as a proof of its serious intentions, giving assurances that these funds will be granted "gratis, which means for nothing". The Frenchmen seem to have begun doing charity work. But we are not the ones to decide... [ellipsis as published]

Working schedule

How long will this Gordian knot be untied? Probably, it will remain untied forever. As Mr Hramotkin assured us, all statements are untrue. All periodicals and TV channels are known to have announced that Ukraine is building a modern dry nuclear waste storage facility, but it is not like this in reality. Work have not been carried out for a long time, particularly over two years when the facility was temporarily closed down. We may not resume construction without outside directives, as overseas experts know Ukraine's needs better. In general, it can be concluded from the chief Chernobyl plant official that we continue playing Monopoly and speculating. We would have had our own storage facility long ago. But incompetence in choosing designers has become an obstacle. In this case, is the new contract with Holtec just another step to an obscure future?

"In order to complete construction of the storage facility, we should unite both companies' efforts. We are likely to succeed by 2010 only if we do so. But even if everything is good, we shall need eight more years to reload fuel from the power units. It might take us even more, as Holtec's technology envisages longer used nuclear fuel drying, but this makes the storage term longer. We still have the fourth power unit. If we take it into account, it will be approximately the year 2040," said the director of the Chernobyl nuclear plant, the first deputy prime minister and the head of the organizing committee in charge of preparation for and conducting of the events in commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl catastrophe, Stanislav Stashevskyy, who recently visited the Chernobyl nuclear plant and the Shelter object to analyze the course of taking measures and overcoming the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster on the spot, along with examination of people's living conditions in the estrangement area.

Shelter above ruined reactor

Therefore, some 50 years are left for healing injuries, and then we are unlikely to be in this world any more, and then it will probably be possible to delay for some years, and it will last endlessly. We could have finished an ode to Chernobyl with this "optimistic" note, but the only remaining thing we have to do is to pay tribute to another monumental construction which is no less pompous and sophisticated than the storage facility. We mean the "arch" being built above the fourth power unit which is likely to have become an object of controversies between all scientists related to it. The majority of them have come to the conclusion that this construction is not needed, as it will just suck more money from our state treasury, not to mention maintenance, which will just ruin the state budget. But having asked the people in charge of the construction about the cost of this monument, we learned that it was previously estimated as 1bn dollars, but this price has already become 200m higher. Construction will be completed in 15 years, and it will last for some 100 years. A century is a long time. How much money will this crypt above the reactor consume during this period?

Construction cost, related problems

"Maintenance of the facility will cost approximately 50m dollars a year," Ihor Hramotkin said... [ellipsis as published] The pleasure is expensive, and nothing can be said. The feasibility of this construction is also dubious. According to academician Emlen Sobotovych, "this is the worst thing we could have built. There will be 1,000 positions with immense salaries and permanent work again. Materials also have to be imported from other countries. To be more precise, no-one needs this burden." However, it might be the only alternative without which the Chernobyl problem cannot be resolved. Stanislav Stashevskyy told journalists after his working visit that, despite the fact that he was visiting the exclusion zone on the eve of its jubilee, he was primarily interested in the measures taken to build the Shelter object: "I confirmed for myself that the plant's management was doing its utmost to fulfil the government's directives on disposal of waste as soon as possible." He also added that the organizing committee would obligatorily study all facts related to the work at its meeting and would take decisions and adopt an action plan for the future in order to finalize construction not only of these vitally important buildings, but also of the waste storage facility and the Shelter facility at the fourth power unit, as soon as possible. But a definitive decision must be taken on improving life for those people who still live in the contaminated area, as there are just 75 of them left, and all of them are retired and disabled people forced to live in misery is this area abandoned by God.

No better project

Answering Uryadovyy Kuryer's question on the reasons why this clumsy Shelter project was being built and whether there were different prospects, Stanislav Stashevskyy said that it was in fact the only alternative for the moment. It is the best solution, as no- one has proposed a better project. As for other buildings' models, they are unjustified and have no right to exist, as one can say that it would have been more feasible to carry out dismantling work in the open air, but according to him, this is an absurdity, and no- one can predict consequences.

It might happen that the Chernobyl Gordian knot will be indeed activated and untied when the president and the government focus their attention on it. It might also happen that residents of the Chernobyl leprosarium will get their share of happiness. We just have to look into the better future with hope.

Source: BBC Monitoring Former Soviet Union

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