Brussels, 22/07/2004 (Agence Europe) - On 20 July, the European Commission approved, on behalf of Euratom, an amendment to the decision taken in 2000 to grant a loan to the Ukrainian national electricity company, Energoatom, for Unit 2 of the Khemelnitsky nuclear power station, and Unit 4 of the Rovno nuclear power station, the so-called "K2R4" project. The loan will now be used solely to improve the safety of the two power stations, which are close to completion, by paying for investments to be made after they enter into service. The total of the Euratom loan has been reduced to the equivalent in euros of 83 million dollars. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) recently approved a loan of 42 million dollars for the same project.
In 2000, the Commission approved a Euratom loan of the equivalent in euros of 585 million dollars, to help to complete, improve the safety of (before and after it enters into service) and implement the two third-generation nuclear units in question. At the same time, the EBRD granted a loan of 215 million dollars. These loan approvals played an essential part in guaranteeing the closure of the Chernobyl power station a few days later, as per a protocol agreement signed with Ukraine, the G7 countries and the European Commission in 1995. However, the Euratom and EBRD loans approved in 2000 did not enter into force, because the Ukrainian authorities asked for extra discussions on related conditions, and ended up decided to finish the two nuclear power stations out of Energoatom's own resources, and the work should be finished this year.
After this revision, the loans are to be clearly focused on nuclear safety. They will pay for measures to improve safety, to be taken once the units enter into service. Nuclear experts engaged by the financiers have confirmed that safety levels will be the same as initially planned in 2000. Furthermore, Ukraine has undertaken to modernise its 13 remaining nuclear power stations, using the K2R4 project as a reference, to create a decommissioning fund and to reach an internationally agreed level of nuclear responsibility and assurance, thanks to major improvements in the perception of electricity bills and to the agreement on the methodology to set Energoatom tariffs on the basis of effective expenditure.