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EBRD disburses Chernobyl grants

Publish date: August 21, 2007

NEW YORK-The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has signed grant agreements worth over 360m Euros to fund two major projects at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, the edie.net environmental news wire reported.

The first agreement covers the design and construction of a new enclosure to surround reactor 4 to replace the quickly-assembled and now-disintegrating “sarcophagus” that was put into place after the 1986 accident.

In April 1986, reactor number 4 at Chernobyl exploded, sending radiation across a large region of what is now the Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia in the worst nuclear power accident ever. According to most reports, 40 radionucleotides were released into the environment.

The second EBRD grant agreement will allow Chernobyl to sign a contract for the completion of an interim storage for spent fuel from the still operational units 1, 2 and 3 at Chernobyl.

Plans for the storage facility are said to be 190 metres wide and 200 metres long, with a completion date of 2015, edie.net reported. The steel structure will weigh 18,000 tons and will have a half-cylinder shape, the news wire said.

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The role of CCS in Germany’s climate toolbox: Bellona Deutschland’s statement in the Association Hearing

After years of inaction, Germany is working on its Carbon Management Strategy to resolve how CCS can play a role in climate action in industry. At the end of February, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action published first key points and a proposal to amend the law Kohlenstoffdioxid Speicherungsgesetz (KSpG). Bellona Deutschland, who was actively involved in the previous stakeholder dialogue submitted a statement in the association hearing.