§ Mr. SimpsonTo ask the President of the Board of Trade, what is the latest information available about the condition of the Chernobyl nuclear plant including assessment of the risks of further accident; and what progress has been made to secure international action to finance a programme to make secure and then decommission the site. [17478]
§ Mr. PageThe safety of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is the responsibility of the relevant authorities in Ukraine. Only they would be able to provide full details on the current safety status of the plant. A European Union funded feasibility study has recently reported on options for dealing with the shelter over the remains of the destroyed unit 4. This was not an in-depth safety assessment of the Chernobyl plant as a whole.
In the light of international concerns over the safety situation at Chernobyl, G7 Heads of Government proposed an action plan at the 1994 Naples economic summit. The plan aims to secure early closure of the remaining units at Chernobyl within the framework of a sound long-term energy sector strategy for Ukraine. G7 1011W leaders agreed to provide $200 million to support the action plan. The EU has promised 100 million ECU from its TACIS technical assistance programme and 400 million ECU from the Euratom loans facility. Work on the action plan is currently being taken forward by a G7/Ukraine task force which is due to report shortly.