EBRD to lend EUR300 mln for Ukraine's nuclear safety
KYIV. March 13 (Interfax) - The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has decided to participate in a comprehensive safety upgrade program for the operating nuclear power units of Ukraine with a 300 million euro loan.
The EBRD's Board of Directors decided on the loan on Tuesday evening, the EBRD said in a statement.
"The program will bring the fleet of Ukraine's nuclear power plants (NPP) in line with international safety standards, including those of the International Atomic Energy Agency," reads the statement.
According to the statement, the largest loan-funded nuclear safety project for the EBRD to date will, depending on reactor type, include up to 87 safety measures addressing design safety issues comprising the replacement of equipment in safety relevant systems, improvements of instrumentation and control for safety relevant systems and the introduction of organizational improvements for accident management. The upgrade is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2017.
Euratom, the European Atomic Energy Community, will provide 300 million euro towards the total cost of the program, which is estimated at 1.4 billion euro.
"With its contribution to this vital program the EBRD does not only play a crucial role in the implementation of the safety upgrade, but also exercises its responsibility as a committed long-term partner of Ukraine," the statement quotes Riccardo Puliti, EBRD's Managing Director for Energy and Natural Resources, as saying.
As reported, the Cabinet of Ministers has declared it reasonable for NJSC Energoatom to raise a loan of 600 million euro from the EBRD and Euratom to implement a comprehensive program to improve the safety of Ukrainian NPPs.
The Ukrainian government, with cabinet resolution No. 1270 of December 7, 2011, approved a comprehensive program to increase the safety of reactors at NPPs for 2012-2017 worth a total of UAH12.453 billion. According to the document, the sources of program financing will be loans from the EBRD and Euratom worth UAH8 billion, and UAH4.453 billion of Energoatom's own funds.
The implementation of the program will allow the country to bring the level of safety of Ukrainian nuclear units to international standards, as well as ensure the full implementation of Ukraine's international obligations on improving the safety of the existing nuclear power plants.
Energoatom operates all four of the nuclear power plants in Ukraine - Zaporizhia NPP, Yuzhnoukrainsk NPP, Rivne NPP, and Khmelnytsky NPP, with fifteen generating units outfitted with water-cooled fast-breeder reactors with an installed generating capacity of 13.835 gigawatts.