Britain is coming under increasing pressure to provide Ukraine with an extra 50 million euros (US$69 million) to construct a new contamination shield over the top of the Chernobyl nuclear plant before the old one collapses.
Officials from the European Commission said governments around the world were being urged to find 750 million euros to help build a more sophisticated roof over the burned-out reactor and storage for 200 tonnes of highly radioactive fuel.
Jean-Paul Joulia, from the commission’s nuclear safety unit, said the cost of just this aspect of the Chernobyl clean-up was running at 1.5 billion euros — double the original estimate — partly due to “some delays” to some projects.
However, he said he was confident that foreign governments would stump up the money needed for the shield, even in today’s financially difficult climate.
“I am optimistic the international community is committed to this. It is important for a number of reasons,” he said.
The disaster at Chernobyl, on April 26, 1986, is recognized as the world’s worst nuclear accident. One of the power station’s reactors exploded and the subsequent fire spewed a radioactive cloud across Europe.
The accident directly claimed the lives of at least 50 people, mainly fire crews and nuclear workers who tried to fight the fire on the fateful night.
Radioactive fallout is believed to have caused many other deaths from thyroid cancer and related illnesses, with an eventual death toll estimated at anywhere between 4,000 and 200,000.
The disaster also triggered the relocation of tens of thousands of local people, some of whom have never been allowed back to the contaminated towns.
Ukraine and foreign contributors have already spent more than 750 million euros trying to make safe the nuclear plant.
The UK has so far provided 53.1 million euros to help build the new shield and is under pressure to stump up a further 50 million euros, although Ukrainian sources said no money had yet been promised.
With the 25th anniversary approaching, the European Commission is encouraging governments to make public new commitments in advance of a “pledging” conference scheduled for one week before the April anniversary.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, which has been overseeing the spending of the money at Chernobyl, admitted squeezing out more money at this time was a “big challenge.”
Vince Novak, a director of the bank’s nuclear safety department in London, said the design life of the temporary shield thrown up by the-then Soviet Union in the immediate aftermath of the accident in 1986 “runs out” in 2016.
The current shield has been propped up by a series of new steel columns, but experts working on the project say the structure is barely adequate and needs replacing as quickly as possible.
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