China assists in safety work at Chernobyl

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has recognized China's contribution to the nuclear safety enhancement work required at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine and expressed hope for China's further cooperation.

Although China was an emerging country when the Chernobyl crisis occurred in 1986, its subsequent economic growth and nuclear industry development have led it to participate in international efforts to assist Chernobyl's transformation work.

In 2011, China contributed 4 million euros ($5.9 million) to the Chernobyl Shelter Fund, which was established at the EBRD in 1997. Currently, 26 countries have contributed to the fund, which had disbursed 1.4 billion euros by the end of last year.

The Chernobyl nuclear disaster on April 26, 1986, led to the evacuation of around 200,000 people from regions neighboring the destroyed reactor, and it caused long-term health and economic damage to the area and its people.

"I know that China responded to the invitation of the G7 leaders and the European Union, and China came to the pledging conference in Kiev in 2011," Vince Novak, director of the Nuclear Safety Department at the EBRD, told China Daily on Tuesday.

Novak said he hopes that as China grows further and develops its nuclear industry, it can participate further in the Chernobyl Shelter Fund to enhance nuclear safety work in cooperation with the international community.

Novak spoke during a media tour of the Chernobyl power plant, which showed the progress already made in the construction of the New Safe Confinement, a structure that will be completed in 2017 to help reduce risks of radiation exposure from the damaged reactor.

Despite being very close to completion, the Shelter Implementation Plan is still experiencing a funding shortfall of 615 million euros. The EBRD will host a donor's conference in London on April 29 in an attempt to close the funding gap.

Novak said that the completion of the New Safe Confinement will be crucial in improving public perception of nuclear power. He added that he is confident the New Safe Confinement will be finished on schedule and within its budget of 1.5 billion euros, which is around two thirds of the Shelter Implementation Plan's budget of 2.1 billion euros.

"In the nuclear business, Chernobyl is extremely important, because it symbolizes a failure of the nuclear industry, and I hope it is a failure that stays in the past. But until Chernobyl has been put behind us, the credibility of nuclear power is at stake," he said.

cecily.liu@chinadaily.com.cn