Antinuclear

Desperate need to get funds for Chernobyl cleanup

Chernobyl Leak Forces Ukraine to Seek $1 Billion After 25 Years, Bloomberg, 18 April 11, Ukraine is seeking $1 billion to seal Chernobyl, the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster, and concern is mounting the accident at Fukushima in Japanand a growing debt crisis may make it harder to raise the money.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych will host a conference starting tomorrow in Kiev to get funding for a new containment shelter 25 years after Chernobyl’s No. 4 reactor exploded. French Prime Minister Francois Fillon and European Commission President Jose Barroso, who arrives today, also will urge states to contribute as a venture involving France’s Vinci SA (DG) and Bouygues SA (EN) begins work on the foundations.

Japan’s battle to contain four damaged reactors at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant has reignited the debate about Chernobyl, whose makeshift shelter has five years left in its lifespan and still leaks radiation. The Ukrainian government warned aid may fall short as governments cut spending and balk at a fund-raising effort that has been going on since 1997.

“The Fukushima disaster definitely gives a renewed sense of urgency for fixing Chernobyl,” said Mark Hibbs, a senior nuclear analyst at the Carnegie Endowment in Berlin. “Everybody said that Chernobyl could never happen again.”

Chernobyl Leak Forces Ukraine to Seek $1 Billion After 25 Years – Bloomberg

April 18, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized