The European Commission approved Wednesday a 585 million dollar (668.9 million euro) loan to Ukraine to help finance two nuclear power units to replace the Chernobyl nuclear power plant that is to shut down on Friday.
In a statement, the EU's executive branch said the funds would go to the Ukrainian nuclear power authority Energoatom "to part-finance the completion, modernization and commissioning" of the units at Khmelnitsky and Rivne.
Both units are to be brought up to Western standards under a 1995 agreement between the Group of Seven leading industrial countries and Ukraine to shut down Chernobyl, scene of the world's worst civilian nuclear accident.
Some 15,000 to 30,000 people have died as a result of the April 26, 1986 explosion at Chernobyl's number-four reactor, which spewed into the atmosphere radiation equivalent to 500 Hiroshima bombs.
Experts say 170 tons of radioactive material remain locked inside the broken reactor, which is covered by a hastily-erected concrete sarcophagus that appears to be cracking and leaking radiation.
Last month European Commission President Romano Prodi went to Kiev for guarantees that Chernobyl will indeed be closed. Brussels also earmarked 25 million euros to help Ukraine overcome immediate energy shortages that will result from Friday's shutdown -- BRUSSELS (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
