OREANDA-NEWS. On August 08, 2007 the EBRD and the Ukrainian authorities have signed grant agreements for two major projects at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (ChNPP), reported the press-centre of  EBRD.

The first agreement covers the design and construction of a New Safe Confinement to enclose reactor 4 and the so-called “shelter”, quickly assembled after the 1986 accident, at the site of the power plant. The Grant Agreement will allow State Specialised Enterprise Chernobyl NPP as recipient to enter into a contract with an international consortium to undertake these works. Contract signing is expected within the next few weeks.

The construction of the New Safe Confinement is a project of the Shelter Implementation Plan which is financed by the Chernobyl Shelter Fund. The EBRD is managing this fund to which Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, European Community, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and the United States have made contributions. Iceland, Israel, Korea, Portugal, the Slovak Republic and Slovenia have made donations.

The signing of the grant agreement was made possible by the approval of an initial allocation of ?330 million by the Donors’ Assembly in its meeting on 17 July chaired by Hans Blix. This funding will permit the start of this crucial project as soon as the contract between the recipient and the contractor has been signed.

Once completed, the New Safe Confinement will contain the radioactive inventory of the “shelter”, prevent the intrusion of water and snow and provide equipment for the eventual deconstruction of the destroyed reactor and the “shelter”.

The second agreement will allow ChNPP to sign a contract for the completion of an interim storage for spent fuel from units 1, 2 and 3 at Chernobyl. This contract is also expected to be signed in the near future and will be financed from the EBRD-managed Nuclear Safety Account. The Assembly of Contributors to this Fund in its meeting on 18 July approved the allocation of ?34 million for the first phase of the project, which was agreed as part of the closure of Chernobyl in 2000.

The Nuclear Safety Account was the first multilateral fund set up at the EBRD in 1993 to finance nuclear safety projects and was established as part of the G7 initiative of 1992 to improve nuclear safety in Central and Eastern Europe. It has received contributions from the European Community and 14 countries: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Since 1997, on the request of the G7 and the European Union, the EBRD has been managing international assistance programmes in Chernobyl, delivered through the Chernobyl Shelter Fund and the Nuclear Safety Account respectively, to mitigate the consequences of the 1986 accident. Both programmes have been developed and carried out in close cooperation with the authorities of Ukraine.