LONDON - Ukraine may keep open Chernobyl, site of the world's worst nuclear disaster, open beyond the year 2000 if promised funding of $ 1.2 billion for two new atomic reactors is cancelled, the Financial Times reported yesterday. It quoted Ukraine's Environment Minister, Mr Yuri Kostenko, responding to the possibility that payment of $400 million for the new stations may be cancelled on the grounds that the project is uneconomic.
The European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has not made a decision on a report commissioned from an independent panel of experts, which said the project would "not represent the most productive use" of European Union funds. The report suggested that instead of funding the project, grants as opposed to loans should be made available for other economically attractive projects in Ukraine.
Mr Kostenko said Ukraine wanted the money by July to complete work on the two reactors.