Last Friday, fifteen years after the Chornobyl accident which has gone down in history as the greatest manmade disaster, unit three, the last operational unit at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant (CNPP), was shut down. The order to shut it down was issued by President Leonid Kuchma of Ukraine during a live broadcast ceremony in Kyiv’s Ukrayina Palace after he had received plant manager Vitaly Tolstonohov’s report from the reactor’s control panel. After the plant came to a standstill at 1:18 p.m., the president pointed out in his speech that it was a difficult but necessary decision to close the station under conditions when the Ukrainian economy is only rising to its two feet after a crisis and Ukraine needs, as never before, various sources of electrical power. According to the President, Ukraine has sacrificed some of its national interests to ensure global security and overcome “the Chornobyl syndrome.” As President of the European Commission, Romano Prodi, noted in a telephone conversation with Mr. Kuchma, the station closure is an important contribution to the strengthening of European and world security. The President of Ukraine pointed out that the CNPP accident has had very grave consequences for Ukraine: in some years about 12% of the budget is being spent to offset the disaster’s consequences. “Under such conditions,” Mr. Kuchma noted, “what we ask the world community for is not a pittance but understanding, businesslike attention, and mutually beneficial cooperation.”
On the other hand, on December 15 during a meeting with the President of Ukraine, US Energy Secretary William Richardson said nuclear stations should be made safe rather than decommissioned. The secretary also informed Mr. Kuchma the US is going to award a grant for establishing a rapid response nuclear emergency crisis center in Slavutych. Welcoming the CNPP closure, US President Bill Clinton said in a TV message on December 15 that the US will support Ukraine’s aspiration to take a fitting place among the states of Europe.
