EU plan to pour billions into Chernobyl-style nuclear plants

LAST week saw the 15th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, but this reminder of the dangers inherent in nuclear energy has not deterred EU officials from deliberating over a secret proposal to provide new support to ageing reactors in the former Soviet Union.

Bizarrely, the anniversary coincided with the leaking of a European Commission memo which said help should be given to the "rehabilitation of firstgeneration [nuclear reactor] units", many of which are of a similar design to the Ukrainian one which released a lethal radioactive cocktail during the catastrophic accident of April 1986. The paper was drafted as part of the preparations for a visit by Romano Prodi, president of the European Commission, to Moscow next month to sign an energy cooperation agreement with Russian president Vladimir Putin.

It also advocates EU support for developing a new generation of so- called fast-breeder reactors (FBRs) and providing "technical support" for measures to encourage the non-proliferation of material that could be used in nuclear weapons.

While the document does not mention how much funding the EU may give to Russia's nuclear programme, it also emerged recently that Brussels energy officials plan to raise the level of EU finance earmarked for new reactors in eastern Europe from its current level of E4 billion (#2.5bn) to E6bn (#3.7bn).

Predictably, environmentalists have criticised the proposal. "The nuclear part of this plan is contradictory to the goals that the EU is officially pursuing - shut-down of high-risk reactors in order to increase nuclear safety, non-proliferation, and support for Russia to clean up already existing nuclear contamination," argued Friends of the Earth campaigner Patricia Lorenz.

"If implemented, the plan is going to increase nuclear risk in Russia and in Europe."

Last month Greenpeace revealed that the Russian government was hoping to use Western funds ostensibly allocated to its disarmament programme to develop a network of FBRs, using a combination of plutonium and uranium called mixed oxide fuel (MOX).

Officials working for the G8 leading industrial countries have suggested that the London-based European Bank for Reconstruction and Development should make roughly #69.6 million in loans available to Russia's MOX programme.

Supporters argue that it would allow plutonium from dismantled weapons to be recycled as fuel for civilian use. Opponents contend that it would cause the amount of plutonium - the raw material for nuclear missiles - to multiply.

Western countries have for the most part turned against FBRs - once perceived as holding the key to the future of nuclear energy - as they are thought to be neither safe nor economically viable.

Over the past year, the environment lobby has been at loggerheads with several EU commissioners, particularly the energy commissioner, Loyola de Palacio, over their unwavering support for nuclear power.

The Commission has recently urged EU governments to endorse the provision of E1.2bn (#750m) to Euratom for nuclear research. The amount is only marginally lower than that allocated to Euratom for the 1998 to 2002 period, which was the highest EU nuclear research budget yet awarded.

The proposal has been made despite the fact that no new reactor has been ordered in any EU country since the beginning of the 1990s, and that Britain and France are becoming increasingly isolated by giving the impression they are steadfastly behind this form of power generation.

"There is no need for more research about a technology which is dying out," claimed Greenpeace's Tobias Muenchmeyer. "More money for nuclear power research is plainly a subsidy to Europe's increasingly desperate nuclear industry which blocks the pathway towards sustainable energy solutions."

l The legacy of Chernobyl: Seven Days

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