29 July 2004, the Euratom loaned to the Ukrainian Nuclear Power Company Energoatom for unit 2 at Khmelnitsky and unit 4 at Rovno nuclear power plants in Ukraine will be signed in Kyiv. Mr Burkhard Schmidt, Head of legal Affairs of the Directorate for Economy and Finance will represent the European Commission on behalf of Euroatom. On the other side the loans will be signed by Mr Serhiy Tulub, Minister of Fuel and Energy of Ukraine. The official ceremony will take place at the Ministry of Fuel and Energy of Ukraine at 3 pm. The loan will now exclusively target enhanced plant safety by financing the safety upgrade investments to be made after start-up of the plants that are now both close to completion. The amount of the Euratom loan has been reduced to the ? equivalent of USD 83 million. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has recently approved a loan of USD 42 million for the same project. In 2000, the Commission approved a Euratom loan for the ? equivalent of USD 585 million to contribute to the completion, safety upgrade (before and after start-up) and commissioning of two third-generation nuclear units: unit 2 at the Khmelnitsky NPP (K2) and unit 4 at Rovno (R4). At the same time the EBRD approved a loan of USD 215 million. These approvals played a crucial role in ensuring the closure of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant a few days later, as agreed in a Memorandum of Understanding signed in 1995 between Ukraine, the G7 countries and the European Commission. However, the Euratom and EBRD loans approved in 2000 did not become effective because the Ukrainians authorities requested further discussions on the conditions attached to the loans and eventually decided to complete the plants from Energoatom’s own resources. It is expected that both units will be completed this year. With this revision, the loans are now clearly focused on nuclear safety. They will finance the safety upgrade measures after start-up of the units. Nuclear experts engaged by the financiers have confirmed that the safety level to be achieved is the same as that originally envisaged in 2000. In addition, Ukraine has committed to modernising the remaining 13 nuclear units in the country using K2R4 as a benchmark, to setting up a decommissioning fund and to reaching an internationally agreed level of nuclear liability and insurance. These developments will be made possible thanks to the substantial improvement in the cash collection of electricity bills and to the agreement on a methodology for the setting of the Energoatom tariff on the basis of actual expenditure.
For further information please contact Anje Schubert, Press and Information Officer, or Olena Mykolaychuk, Task Manager, at the Delegation, Tel: 462 00 10.