It’s been almost seven years since Ukraine shut down the Chornobyl Nuclear Plant, the site of the world’s worst atomic catastrophe in 1986. But the closing is still going on. The Chornobyl Shelter Project is tasked with sealing up the infamous No. 4 reactor, while another project is intended to store spent nuclear fuel from the plant’s other reactors. These projects are 90 percent funded by the international community, with the G7 and the EU taking the lead. Earlier this week, Ukrainian and fund representatives announced the approval of $500 million in grants to complete the projects, which were initiated in the 1990s. This is good news. It’s even better news that the international community has followed through on promises to help out.
But one can’t help but notice how long it has taken to move things along. To be sure, multinational projects are difficult to coordinate, especially when they involve nonrefundable financing. But the squabbling that has marked the selection of the projects’ contractors over the past couple of years is also revealing.
Most of the noise came from Ukraine – the Chornobyl Plant directors, the government and individual politicians. After all, competing contractors were represented by foreign as well as Ukrainian companies and the overall funding exceeds $1 billion. The net result of the squabbling was months if not years of project delays.
One would think that Ukraine should be glad to be getting help at all. After all, it was not the international community that caused the deadly explosion, although the fallout went beyond the Soviet Union. Are the memories of April 1986 so distant? Isn’t the priority to seal up the plant to make sure no more radioactive materials seep out? Of course, international contractors are also in it for the money, and their interests are backed by politicians back home.
And Ukrainian officials are responsible for making sure that the work done on Ukrainian soil is done right. But all the noise over who would get the contract recalls numerous instances of international aid money misused or stolen by Ukrainian officials. It’s good the projects are finally moving ahead. Let’s hope the dust has finally settled.
