§ Mr. CohenTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will give details of the EC's technical assistance in the Commonwealth independent states programme for nuclear safety; and what is the United Kingdom's contribution.
§ Mr. Lennox-BoydIn the three years from the start of the TACIS programme in 1991, a total of 236 mecu—around £180 million—has been committed for work on nuclear safety in the former Soviet Union. The work has covered three main areas; plant operational safety, design safety and support to the regulatory authorities.
For 1993, the total budget for nuclear safety is 103 mecu or £80 million—which is allocated as follows:
Mecu £ million Russia 48 37 Ukraine 32 25 Regional 8 6 EBRD (contribution to Multi-lateral fund) 15 12 Total 103 80 The regional programme will mainly cover Russia, Ukraine and Belarus with limited assistance being provided to Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. Comparable figures for earlier years are not readily available.
The UK currently contributes around 16.5 per cent. to the total cost of the assistance provided by TACIS.