On March 21, Greenpeace released an urgent appeal to the G7 and European Union heads of state demanding a commitment to nuclear safety.
A Nuclear Safety Summit will be held on April 19-20, attended by the heads of state of the G7 nations (US, UK, Japan, Germany, Italy, Canada and France), as well as the Russian Federation's Boris Yeltsin and representatives from the European Union. Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma has been invited to attend part of the summit.
In its appeal, Greenpeace criticised the G7's December Memorandum of Understanding with Ukraine which recommends loan financing from the West of approximately $2.3 billion of energy grants ($500 million) and loans ($1.8 billion) to assist the completion of the Soviet-designed Khmelnitski II and Rovno IV nuclear reactors in Ukraine.
The memorandum also requests the Ukrainian government to close the Chernobyl nuclear power station by the year 2000. According to the February 29 issue of Nucleonics Week, however, German officials have learned that the Chernobyl management is planning to keep the plant operating until at least 2010.
"The Nuclear Safety Summit must ensure the immediate closure of Chernobyl", said Greenpeace's Oganes Targulian. "Millions of people were affected by the accident, yet 10 years on the plant is still operating. The threat of another accident at Chernobyl is very real; the G7 and European Union nations must act now to shut it down and eliminate the threat forever."
Greenpeace has also demanded that the heads of state ensure that funding is not provided for the completion of any new dangerous reactors in Ukraine. It has called instead for investment in energy efficiency and renewable resources, and has provided details that show the potential energy savings in Ukraine.
"The Nuclear Safety Summit, if it is to be taken seriously, will have to act in the interest of the environment, public health and sustainable economic development, not the nuclear industry", Targulian said.