EU promises EUR 110m for new Chernobyl sarcophagus

(KIEV) - The European Commission said Monday it will provide Ukraine with 110 million euros ($156 million) to help with construction of a new sarcophagus isolating the Chernobyl nuclear plant.

"Tomorrow on behalf of the European Commission I will announce in the pledging conference an extra EU pledge of about 110 million euros," European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said in the Ukrainian capital.

Barroso was in Kiev for a donors conference to start Tuesday that will aim to raise 740 million euros to help Ukraine cover the cost of replacing a concrete sarcophagus that was erected to confine the Chernobyl reactor that exploded in 1986 in the world's worst nuclear disaster.

French Prime Minister Francois Fillon is co-chairing the conference and is expected to announce a separate French contribution of at least 47 million euros, a government source said.

The original Chernobyl sarcophagus is cracked and unstable and the conference is being held as Ukraine marks the 25th anniversary of the disaster this month.

"I'm confident that those events tomorrow will bring the desired results, notably in securing necessary funds to complete the safety work on the Chernobyl site," Barroso said during a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.

"Overcoming a tragedy of such a scale cannot be only Ukraine's business. The event in Japan has again confirmed that such events are a challenge for all of humanity," Yanukovych said.

A separate EU statement said the money will help "ensure that the Chernobyl site is made stable and environmentally safe."

It will be funnelled into "nuclear safety, but also on programmes to help the local population and provide affected families with access to quality healthcare," the statement said.

Barroso and Yanukovych signed a separate deal Monday that will see the EU provide an additional 48 million euros to reinforce nuclear safety at Ukraine's four other nuclear power plants, which provide about half of the country's electric power.

The funds will also be used to help deal with nuclear waste, the Ukrainian presidency said in a statement.

"This demonstrates again the EU commitment to nuclear safety, both at home and outside its borders," Barroso said.

The fourth reactor at a power station in the Ukrainian city of Chernobyl, around 100 kilometres (60 miles) north of Kiev, exploded in April 1986, contaminating a swathe of Europe, with Ukraine, Belarus and Russia the worst affected.

A consortium made up of French construction companies Bouygues and Vinci won a tender in 2007 to build the new sarcophagus, financed by an international foundation. Work on the project began last year and is due to be completed by 2015.

The 108-metre-high arched structure, weighing 20,000 tonnes, will be assembled close to the reactor and then slid on rails over the existing sarcophagus.