Yanukovych: Rejection of nuclear power to hamper technological progress

KYIV, April 19 /UKRINFORM/. The complete refusal from using nuclear energy is equal to artificial inhibition of scientific and technological progress, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has addressed the Kyiv International Summit on the Safe and Innovative Use of Nuclear Energy on Tuesday.

"Another thing is that humanity must learn how to use its scientific and technological achievements in such a way that it did not threaten the planet, the people themselves and future generations," President Yanukovych emphasized.

He stressed that the international community have learned from the Chornobyl accident, having significantly improved the safety requirements for nuclear installations.

The president noted that the responsibility for the safety of life on this planet must bear all of the states.

In this regard, he recalled that Ukraine, pursuant to the commitments adopted in April 2010 at the Washington summit, has already removed from its territory 106 kg of highly enriched uranium. These commitments will be fully implemented by April 2012, Yanukovych said.

"I'm not a dreamer. But I hope that the current Kyiv summit will be a significant step forward in addressing the safe use of nuclear technology, primarily for electricity production," he said.

He added that Central and Eastern Europe have already become nuclear weapons-free areas.

The summit is attended UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, presidents of Kazakhstan, Poland, Switzerland, Hungary, Croatia, as well as prime ministers of France, Lithuania, Belgium, Azerbaijan, and IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano.

It is expected that a declaration of heads of state and government will be adopted following the Kyiv summit, which is to set out the principles for cooperation among the parties in the field of nuclear safety in order to avoid a repeat of planetary-scale technological accidents in the future.

Earlier that day at a donor conference in Kyiv, the Chernobyl Shelter Fund (CSF) has received EUR 550 million in contributions.

Almost EUR 740 million is needed to build a new safe sarcophagus over the destroyed reactor 4 and a storage facility for spent fuels.

АМ