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WORLD / Europe
Ukraine, West firms sign deal to solve Chernobyl ills
(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-09-17 23:16
The new "tomb" will take the form of an arch 105 metres (345 feet) high,
150 metres long and 260 metres across. It will be built onsite and then
slid over the fourth reactor, providing conditions for the complete
dismantling of its nuclear inventory, most of which is still inside.
The second facility is to house more than 20,000 spent fuel assemblies
used by the other three reactors during the plant's 23 years in operation
before it was shut down in 2000.
Kris Singh, president of Holtec International, said the site could
ultimately house spent fuel from some of Ukraine's 16 working reactors if
authorities approved such a move.
Yves-Thibault de Silguy, president of the Vinci firm, which has a stake
in Novarka with Bouygues, said the deals would give a green light for
plans to rejuvenate the nuclear industry after 20 years of stagnation
attributed partly to Chernobyl.
"I am convinced that the resumption of the new development of nuclear
plants in the world depends on finding a solution to the Chernobyl case,"
he said. "And today we have a very important signal for the world."
Estimates of the number of deaths linked to the Chernobyl accident vary
widely. The World Health Organisation puts the number at 9,000, while the
environmental group Greenpeace predicts an eventual death toll of 93,000.
Some 200,000 residents were evacuated from Ukraine alone, though the
accident hit neighbouring Belarus especially hard. Experts are still
studying the long-term health effects.
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