EBRD Marks Time, But Ukraine Cannot Wait

Last Thursday, a government committee was to discuss the date of shutdown for the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant. Little wonder then that the visit of Acting President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and First Vice President, Charles Frank should have been timed to coincide with this event. Mr. Frank, on his second visit to Kyiv in the last two months, told journalists that Ukraine is his second home. But the true purpose of this visit as well as the contents and results of talks between Mr. Frank and Prime Minister Viktor Yushchenko were carefully camouflaged by the diplomatically complimentary tone of their utterances. Last year, the board of governors approved eight new projects for Ukraine, with eleven being under consideration now. As we know, the most important and vital for Ukraine is finishing the construction of nuclear units at Khmelnytsky and Rivne nuclear plants. Experts claim this project was in fact the core and major stumbling block in the current negotiations. Moreover, in their opinion the discussion of this issue will remain fruitless, which is bound to be reflected in the general tone of the meeting, which was undoubtedly of quite a constructive nature when discussing all the other issues.

The point is that our nuclear donors think it of paramount importance that Ukraine should fix the final date for decommissioning the Chornobyl Power Plant. And since the date has already been fixed for November 2000 by decision of the Nuclear Regulatory Administration and the government will perhaps have to attach its political seal to this decision, the West will regard the question of finishing the construction of units as exhausted. Thus, the talks on the final value of these projects seem to be conducted as a pure formality with the goal of dissuading Ukraine from taking the illogical and rather desperate step of keeping open a highly dangerous nuclear power complex. But, according to Mr. Frank, the current talks are aimed at “finding a reasonable cost of finishing the construction.” He also pointed out there are a number of conditions, only the fulfillment of which can allow the EBRD to decide to fund this project. As The Day has learned, the EBRD suggests setting the construction cost at over $1.4 billion, including $800 million as credit and insurance funds, while the Ukrainian side puts forward the lower figure of $1.2 billion. Acting President of Enerhoatom, Volodymyr Bronnykov, told The Day, “Ukraine urgently needs money to complete construction of the nuclear power units, while the negotiating process with EBRD could drag on for another 12-18 months.”

PS. Charles Frank introduced last Wednesday the EBRD new director for Ukraine, Andrew Seaton who has already got down to work in the bank’s Kyiv office. Mr. Seaton has been working for the last twenty years at the Deutsche Morgan Grenfeil Company acquired by Deutsche Bank in 1989.