February 2009 Archives

Ukrainian law enforcement officers detained two officials of the General Directorate of Ukraine’s Secretariat of the Ombudsman today for killing an elk calf in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.

According to the Ukrainian Interior Ministry, the two officials killed the calf and placed it in the trunk of a car. The accused admitted entering the Exclusion Zone through a hole in the fence. Police detained them after they tried to merge to a road leading away from the Chernobyl Zone.

Investigation materials will be handed over to the prosecutor for criminal charges of poaching and illegal entry into the Exclusion Zone. It is unclear what the officials intended to do with the meat, which is being sent for examination to determine the presence of radionuclides.

Nuclear power has been poised for a huge rebirth due to worldwide concern about climate change and global warming. However, the global recession is making it very difficult for companies and governments to justify construction costs for new nuclear facilities. Recently, upfront costs for nuclear projects have quickly increased due to rising steel costs and lack of technological expertise.

France’s Areva has acknowledged industry changes, noting that the nuclear sector used to be a suppliers’ market, but the worldwide recession has changed it to a buyers’ market.

An example of the recession’s effects can be found in the December 2008 decision by South Africa to cancel its plans to construct a second nuclear reactor. Deeming the project no longer affordable, the country is expected to fill its energy needs through coal.

It is not only the costs of construction that are a deterrent for building new nuclear facilities. France’s EDF has announced the cost of power produced by their new reactor in Flamanville will be 20% higher than initially expected. Power generated by this reactor, which is expected to begin operations in 2013, will cost approximately 55 euros per megawatt hour instead of the initial 46 euro estimate.

Don’t be surprised if, by the time the recession ends, nuclear power is not the same cost-effective option it used to be. These higher costs may make people reconsider adding nuclear capacity more than the potential dangers posed by the technology.

Arseniy Yatseniuk, a 34-year old Ukrainian politician, appears ready to become a candidate in Ukraine’s 2010 presidential election. Yatseniuk, who claims to have no allies amongst the current major politicians, has created a new political party called Change Front Citizens Initiative. According to a recent public opinion poll, a Yatseniuk-led political party would gain more than 3% of the vote, thus gaining seats in Parliament.

The following is a list of Yatseniuk’s past experience:

• 2001-2003: Economic Minister - Crimea
• 2003-2004: First Vice President - Ukraine’s Central Bank
• 2004-2005: Acting Head of Ukraine’s Central Bank
• 2005: Vice Governor of Odessa Oblast (under Socialist Vasyl Tsushko)
• 2005-2006: Economic Minister - Ukraine
• 2006: Deputy Head of President Viktor Yushchenko’s Administration
• 2007: Foreign Minister - Ukraine
• 2007-2008: Speaker of Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine’s Parliament)

Webster Brooks has posted an interesting article in the Brooks Foreign Policy Review about the possibilities of a Yatseniuk presidency - “Can Arseniy Yatsenyuk Save Ukraine from Itself.” The article compares Yatseniuk to Barak Obama’s quick rise in the U.S. If you are interested in Ukrainian politics, this article is definitely a worthwhile read.

Photo: NATO

Currently, the flow of news is slow, so the following description, from the Charter of SSE Chernobyl NPP, was recently published as the official purpose of the State Specialized Enterprise Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant:

The State Specialized Enterprise “Chernobyl NPP” (SSE ChNPP) is the enterprise supervising the decommissioning of power plant units and transforming the Shelter Object into an environmentally safe system. SSE ChNPP was created as part of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant according to Decree #1084/2000 of the President of Ukraine dated September 25, 2000 and by Decree #399 of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated April 25, 2001.

Chernobyl NPP is the operating organization (operator) of nuclear installations at this nuclear power plant. The operator oversees the stages of power unit decommissioning, overcoming accident consequences and managing the facilities for Radioactive Wastes Management and temporary storages according to the legislation of Ukraine.

The main tasks of Chernobyl NPP are the following:

• Ensuring the safe operation of nuclear installations, facilities for radioactive wastes management and other equipment of this nuclear power plant
• The safe decommissioning of Chernobyl NPP Units 1, 2, 3 and nuclear power plants of Ukraine;
• Shelter Object transformation into an ecologically safe system;
• Ensuring safety during management of radioactive wastes accumulated at the site of this NPP and the Exclusion zone of Chernobyl NPP and also wastes generating during decommissioning and Shelter Object transformation into ecological safe system;
• Ensuring safety during Chernobyl NPP’s spent nuclear fuel management;
• Construction and operation of infrastructure facilities necessary for Chernobyl NPP decommissioning and Shelter Object transformation into an ecologically safe system;
• Personnel training and skills improvement;
• Environmental monitoring in the zone of Chernobyl NPP location;
• Technologies development, accumulation and use of scientific and technical experience related to decommissioning of nuclear installations, overcoming of beyond designed accident consequences and construction and use of storage facilities for radioactive waste temporary and long term storage;
• Organization, coordination and implementation of scientific-applied researches, introduction of scientific technical and other developments, making contacts with scientific institutions, including foreign ones;
• Participation in the works coordination and implementation within the international projects related to decommissioning of Chernobyl NPP and Shelter Object transformation into environmentally safe system.

Photo courtesy of ChAES

On February 16, 2009 the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers and the State Specialized Enterprise “Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant” were to sign a guaranteed agreement for the allocation of a 135 million euro technical assistance grant for the implementation of Chernobyl programs.

Allocation of the funds is expected to be:

• Dry Storage Facility (ISF-2) construction - 77 million euros
• New Safe Confinement construction - 58 million euros