A centralized storage facility for radioactive waste is to open in the Chornobyl zone in 2013, Head of the State Agency for Managing the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone Volodymyr Kholosha told reporters during a briefing in the Chornobyl zone (Kyiv region) on Wednesday.
"This storage facility will allow all of the radioactive waste from the territory of Ukraine that is stored at special facilities of bankrupt enterprises to be collected together and stored safely here for at least fifty years," he said. The official added that there is a lot of radioactive waste in Ukraine, especially near large cities, and these territories have to be cleaned up.
According to Kholosha, the storage facility will have enough capacity to accept 21,000 items of radioactive waste per year.
"This will effectively allow the facility to collect together [all of Ukraine’s radioactive waste] in one place and make our environment safer within 15 years," the head of the state agency said.
British Ambassador to Ukraine Leigh Turner said that the UK has allocated GBP 8 million for the construction of the storage facility, and the European Commission could grant an additional EUR 2 million for the project. The ambassador added that the storage facility could become a reliable place for storing over 400,000 items of radioactive waste.
The UK ambassador stressed the importance of the fact that all radioactive waste on the territory of Ukraine would be far removed from residential areas, and this could prevent their illegal use by potential terrorists.
He added that the Ukrainian authorities should continue fruitful cooperation with the United States, France, Germany, Sweden and the European Union to remove all radioactive waste from the territory of Ukraine.
The UK ambassador informed that "small radioactive components" usually used for X-ray diagnostics, treating cancer and water purification would be kept at the storage facility.
Kholosha informed that Ukraine has invested Hr 250 million into the infrastructure of the Vector complex, where the storage facility will be constructed. The facility will have an area of 150 hectares. It will be expanded if necessary.
The Ukrainian official stressed that waste only from the territory of Ukraine will be stored there.
According to Kholosha, waste disposal would be mostly funded from the national budget of Ukraine, as the majority of the enterprises that have such waste are bankrupt and stopped working a long time ago.
