Former General Director of the Chornobyl Atomic Energy Station Serhiy Parashyn believes that the American Vice President, who thinks ecological problems will become crucial in the coming century, needed to visit the site in order to gain a deeper understanding of Chornobyl's significance in current history.
Of course, Gore's visit was also connected with continued financing of the SIP project, which envisions neutralizing the danger hidden within the ruined nuclear plant. This question is especially acute in connection with statements by a number of EBRD representatives about Ukraine's nonfulfillment of its obligations in connection with the Shelter Project, but Mr. Parashyn is confident that SIP financing will continue.
Chornobyl Deputy General Director Valentyn Kupny stated that the US is doing "the basic and the most things" to carry out the SIP plan. Of $390 million donated to the SIP project by 26 countries, the US has provided $78 million. The project is estimated to cost $758 million.
Kupny also adds that since 1995 the US Department of Energy has given $1 million to repair the ventilation pipes along with individual dosimeter control and dosimetric equipment for the Shelter object costing $1.8 million. According to the Nuclear Regulatory Administration of the Ukrainian Ministry of Environmental Safety, total US Department of Energy assistance to Ukraine in improving nuclear plant safety beginning in 1996 has been about $20 million.
On July 23 US Vice President Albert Gore viewed from afar the containment Sarcophagus encasing the ruins of Chornobyl Block Four. On the eve of his visit to Kyiv Mr. Gore also signed an agreement on increasing the exploitation of the safety systems of nuclear objects in Ukraine as well as on establishing a radiation ecological laboratory in the International Chornobyl Center.
Photo by Hlib Haranych, Reuters:
Gore inspects Chornobyl from a helicopter







