Nuclear question - UK could stop Ukraine going green and extend its nuclear dependency

Pascoe Sabido

15 November 2012

If we're not having one, then neither are you: time to grow up?

What a week in the fight for clean British energy: scandal erupted when Conservative Party members were exposed colluding with James Delinpole, in his obsessive efforts to wipe wind-farms off the map, and Ed Davey's statement in the Commons yesterday about energy companies fixing gas prices demonstrated once again the urgent need to overhaul our energy system.  

Not only are elements of this government trying to undermine a green future here in the UK, they are also threatening green hopes in Ukraine. Among all the energy market mayhem, you'd be forgiven for missing it, but in addition to messing up our own clean energy karma, the UK may actually back a huge European loan for the Ukrainian nuclear power sector.

There's life in the old dogs yet - but at what cost?

 Ukraine has 15 operating nuclear reactors, twelve of which are designed to finish operations before 2020. But rather than hanging up its nuclear boots, the country has applied for international funding for 'safety upgrades' that would in fact keep some of its reactors operating well beyond.

These plans will not only be expensive, at a whopping 1.45 billion euros, but are also unjustified for a number of reasons:

• They use money that could otherwise be invested in viable alternatives. Both energy efficiency and renewable energy in Ukraine are light years behind UK and European standards.
•  No preparations have been made to dispose of the additional radioactive waste and spent fuel. This is not only dangerous but will create sizeable costs for Ukraine in the future.
• Ukraine hasn't yet properly informed neighbouring countries nor its own citizens about these plans.  
• Although talks have been ongoing for more than two years, Ukraine's state-owned nuclear energy company, Energoatom, has not yet been able to provide the required documentation to go ahead. This is likely to be one of the reasons behind the loan decision being postponed four times already.  

UK's got tax-payer funded muscles - but won't dare flex them

The Ukrainians have applied to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), for over €300 million in loans for its upgrades. The UK government, will play a major role in giving the loan the green light or showing it the red card when the EBRD makes its decision:

• The UK, through the Treasury and the Department for International Development (DfID), is one of the Bank's biggest shareholders with a capital share of about €2.5 billion (which comes from our taxes), giving it serious weight in all decisions.
• The EBRD is headquartered in the City of London, and its current President, Suma Chakrabarti, is a UK national who previously headed up DfID, the very same department making the decisions on behalf of the UK government.

It's safe to say the UK government and the EBRD are well acquainted. But if UK representatives in the EBRD approved this loan, the UK would become complicit in a plan that sets-back the development of the green energy sector in Ukraine by several decades. Rather than helping them move towards a renewable future, our taxes are likely to be spent ensuring the people of Ukraine remain stuck with Soviet-style reactors from the seventies.

Time to feel the heat

Friends of the Earth is pressuring the UK government to back wave, wind and solar at home, but its international actions deserve equal scrutiny - especially when its public money being spent. One place to start putting pressure on the UK's and other EBRD directors is through an international petition on the Avaaz community site. It calls for the rejection of the project in its current state, and demands Ukraine gets serious about the need for a safe, clean and affordable energy future, which means no more nuclear.

You can sign the petition here

This blog was written in collaboration with Iryna Holovko, Bankwatch energy campaigner in Ukraine.