Even after Chornobyl, nuclear power plant safety remains a serious problem.
The Chornobyl catastrophe twelve years ago did not force humanity to stop using nuclear energy. It only made people think of the necessary safety level of technologies, connected with their risks. At least, I would like to believe this is the case.
A number of countries have not only not eschewed the peaceful uses of nuclear power but continue to develop nuclear energy. Ukraine is one of these countries, even though it has inherited Chornobyl and all its consequences. This might seem strange, but nuclear sector development is the necessary condition for shutting down the Chornobyl plant. Under development we should understand not only increasing their producing capacity, but also improving their safety systems.
A few years after disaster in Chornobyl, Western countries announced they wanted the plant shut down. Ukraine responded that shutting down the station would not solve its problems but supported the idea. After continuous discussion, the G7 states and European Union have finally agreed to the list of conditions compiled by Ukraine.
The West suggested Ukraine bring on line additional power units at the Rivne and Khmelnytsky plants. However, nuclear workers say that safety is an economic term, because this requires money. And improving the safety systems of the two power units in Rivne and Khmelnytsky will increase their construction expense. The Enerhoatom Co., which is responsible not only for erecting the power units, but also for paying back the loans, started to speak about necessity modernization. They suggest postponing the modernization process until the launched power units start to bring a profit. This position found some support in the atomic bloc of the previous Parliament. This bloc conducted a number of meetings at the plants.
In this way politicians and nuclear workers formed a dangerous alliance for Ukraine. I would like to underline that the Nuclear Regulations Administration refuses to approve it. Our experts must not neglect safety-enhancement programs, because this would mean we have not learned anything from Chornobyl.
The present BBER-1000 units are much better than Chornobyl’s 1986 vintage RVMK-1000 in terms of safety. We still have deficiencies in our exploitation programs and their existence speaks not only of financial problems, but also of inadequate attention to safety. Otherwise, no one would call the modernization program too broad. It includes 147 measures aimed at improving the unit regulating system and nuclear fuel cooling system. At Chornobyl failures in these systems was one of the disaster’s causes. In addition, the exploitation documentation does not meet normative requirements. Emergency procedures used worldwide have not been mastered in Ukraine.
It was people who suffered most from the consequences of the Chornobyl disaster. Today, protecting people in case of an accident has been included in our modernization program. We need to work out a control system, which would enable us to detect accidental emissions, their amount, and immediately inform the people and authorities.
The attempt to suspend the modernization process has its reasons, logical from the business point of view. But considering the Chornobyl experience, we cannot afford to approach safety with old measures.
Reuters photo:
The Rivne nuclear plant is now being built at the cost of higher residential electricity bills. These funds are inadequate for safety measures. We ourselves are putting our children in danger







