Local referendum in Kyiv oblast to decide on construction of spent nuclear fuel storage
Ukraine needs a spent nuclear fuel storage facility that would be centrally controlled. It costs too much to reprocess spent fuel in Russia and, at any rate, Ukraine would eventually have to take it back for storage and wait until science comes up with a solution to the problem of reusing spent fuel as an energy source.
The only question is where to build this storage facility. Enerhoatom’s vice-president Volodymyr Bronnikov says that the best place to build such a facility is the area within the Exclusion Zone, 12 km south of the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Station (ChAES), which is no longer in operation. However, Ukrainian law says that permission must be sought from the local community before embarking on such a project.
This problem was effectively resolved at the Zaporizhia AES, one of Ukraine’s four nuclear power stations, by building a spent fuel storage facility. The other three nuclear power plants, Rivne, Khmelnytsky, and the South-Ukrainian AES, are still shipping their nuclear waste to Russia. But in the near future our neighbor is planning to make Ukraine pay world nuclear waste management prices. According to Bronnikov, this complex operation will cost Ukraine an additional 18 percent a year.
“The Cabinet of Ministers must assume responsibility and carry out explanatory work on television,” Raisa Bohatyriova, the head of the National Defense and Security Council (RNBO) of Ukraine, declared recently. Of course, the government’s help in this matter costs a lot, but Enerhoatom will have to work with the population. This company has already planned a number of roundtables and public hearings involving civic organizations and concerned citizens. In order not to overlook any comments, two information centers have been set up: one in Kyiv and the other in Slavutych (Kyiv oblast).
All neighboring countries will be advised of the launch of the construction of the centralized spent nuclear fuel storage facility. If necessary, Ukraine’s experts will be dispatched to neighboring countries to study critical remarks and proposals. Enerhoatom, however, does not expect any problems with such business trips abroad. Experts’ estimates of transboundary effects indicate that the construction and operation of this nuclear storage facility will not lead to any negative consequences, not even for Belarus whose territories are close to the Chornobyl AES.
All citizens of Ukraine and neighboring countries must know that if this storage facility becomes operational, it will be used only for storing Ukraine’s nuclear waste. “We are not planning imports or temporary storage of spent nuclear fuel from any other countries,” said Liudvig Lytvynsky, director of the State Scientific-Engineering Control and Emergency Response Systems Center. He explained that public consultations will end by late May, after which preparations for organizing a local consultative referendum will start. The referendum cannot be held earlier than in the summer, and it will be preceded by the adoption by local self-government authorities of a decision on an agreement to locate the nuclear waste storage facility on their territory. After all the project documentation is studied and local public opinion is considered, the documents will be forwarded to the government and then submitted to the Verkhovna Rada, which will have to pass the bill. If this happens, construction of the facility will begin in 2009, and it may become operational by 2011, said Oleksandr Rybchuk, head of Enerhoatom’s directorate for new projects.
