Chernobyl Activity

The nuclear energy arm of German power company RWE NUKEM GmbH began construction work on a solid radioactive waste storage and reprocessing plant at the site of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine which is expected to come into service at the end of 2005, the Chernobyl plant's management has announced.

The Ukrainian Government approved the project on December 26, 2003, and initial preparatory work began on the site last November. The complex will include a plant capable of handling up to 525 cubic metres of solid waste a year, a reprocessing plant with an annual capacity of 3,500 m3, and a depot that can store 50,210 m3 of radioactive waste for up to 100 years.

According to the contract concluded in 2001 between the Ukrainian Government and RWE NUKEM GmbH, the estimated cost of the project is Euro 44 million, 2.7 million of which will be provided by Ukraine and 41.3 million by the European Union in the form of aid promised to Kiev as compensation for the closure of Chernobyl.