THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of
the Press Secretary
(Kiev, Ukraine)
| For
Immediate Release |
June 5,
2000 |
Fact Sheet
Nuclear Safety Assistance
Increased
President Clinton today announced a $2 million
expansion of the U.S. nuclear safety assistance program with Ukraine. The
funding will support closure of the Chornobyl nuclear power plant and nuclear
safety improvements at Ukraine's other four nuclear power plants. Nuclear power
provides over 40% of Ukraine's electricity generation.
The work extends
U.S.-supported cooperative efforts to improve the safety of Soviet-designed
reactors in Ukraine. These efforts began in 1992 and have resulted in
significant improvements to safety at Ukraine's nuclear power plants. The work
is implemented by the U.S. Department of Energy in cooperation with Ukraine's
Ministry of Fuel and Energy and its nuclear utility, Energoatom. This funding
will support work in the following areas:
- Decontamination and decommissioning (D&D) planning and
safety assessment assistance, through the Chornobyl Center's Slavutych
Laboratory, to support closure of the Chornobyl nuclear power plant. Currently,
only the planning document for Unit 1 has been completed, which has allowed its
defueling. The additional funding will assure the completion of D&D
planning documents for Units 2 and 3;
- Maintenance and repair capability at Westron in Kharkiv, a
joint venture between Khartron and Westinghouse Electric Company, for the
eleven Safety Parameter Display Systems that the United States has provided to
Ukraine's VVER-1000 nuclear power plants;
- Operation safety upgrades, which will be undertaken at
Ukraine's other nuclear power plants.
The United States is investing $26 million to install eleven
Safety Parameter Display Systems in Ukraine's most modern nuclear power plants,
the VVER-1000s. These systems provide nuclear power plant operators with rapid
access to hundreds of signals from operational and safety systems so that the
operators can quickly and efficiently deal with accident situations. Lack of a
system of this kind was a factor in the Three Mile Island nuclear accident in
1979. These systems are manufactured by a joint venture, Westron, between
Westinghouse Electric company in the U.S. and Khartron in Kharkiv, Ukraine.
Under this new initiative, Westron will develop the capability to repair
printed circuit boards and system components and maintain an in-country stock
of complex electronic boards to provide quickly for the repair needs of Safety
Parameter Display Systems quickly. Other activities include providing fire
safety equipment at additional nuclear power plants. |