Enerhoatom Drops Mediators

President of the Enerhoatom National Nuclear Energy Company Serhiy Tulub announced on September 6 that his company was canceling contracts with the go- between firms in charge of taking spent fuel from nuclear power stations. Now that the company intends to drop barter settlements it considers intermediary services unnecessary. “There is a host of offshore companies among the go-betweens. They will be taken to account,” Mr. Tulub promised. According to him, firms that no longer take advantage of barter would like to see the current the Enerhoatom current management dismissed and the former company president Yury Nedashkivsky return.

Mr. Nedashkivsky himself, reinstated in office by a Kyiv Shevchenkivsky Court ruling, cannot yet resume his work. His attempt to break into the Enerhoatom president’s office room proved unsuccessful. The point is Mr. Nedashkivsky was dismissed by a Cabinet of Ministers resolution, and for that reason only the government can override this decision. As Mr. Nedashkivsky did not have a document to this effect, he failed to “take the fortress by storm.” Prime Minister Anatoly Kinakh said on September 6 he was going to appeal the Shevchenkivsky Court ruling at an appellate body.

Mr. Nedashkivsky claims he was fired unlawfully in violation of the Labor Code. In his words, when the government dismissed him, it violated one proviso of the contract. The premier declines to comment on this, promising to fulfill any decision the court will hand down after considering the government’s appeal.

Meanwhile, Enerhoatom has accumulated 165 court orders to pay a total UAH 423 million in debts to the five intermediary firms whose contracts have been abrogated. Mr. Tulub says that, unable to pay off such a tremendous amount, Enerhoatom is now under severe psychological pressure: for example, the company was forced to make payments to the mediators even when they offered it no services. Yet, Mr. Tulub is sure Enerhoatom is so far in quite a sound financial state, “The company is making net profits.”