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ThE MEETING OF THE European Commission on 6th September is expected to hear a report from Commissioners Chris Patten and Gunter Verheugen which will argue that funds earmarked to help the Ukraine after the final closure of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor site should be used to build replacement reactors. Amazingly two of the original four reactors on the site have carried on operations after the disaster to plant no. 4 which killed an estimated 30,000 people during the world's worst nuclear disaster in 1986. The European Union and Group of Seven industrialised nations undertook in 1995 to find a safer and more permanent form of protection for the ruined plant. The Soviet-built shell over the reactor has been leaking almost since the day it was built and experts say a new cover is needed. Within the existing concrete casing lie about 200 tons of highly radioactive dust and melted nuclear fuel and debris. According to officials, water is penetrating through many leaks. The risk of radioactive dust escaping into the surrounding atmosphere, or of highly contaminated water seeping into the national water supply is high. A first conference of donors was held in November 1997 in New York. Now Western donors have pledged an extra $370 million to make safe the ruined reactor. The announcement came after a two-day conference in Berlin involving some 40 countries. The new report concerns money pledged by the EU to assist with the running of the remaining two operational reactors and to help with finding their replacements, in return for the whole Chernobyl site being shut by the end of this year.
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The report's conclusions are likely to prove controversial as not only environmental groups but several Member States have already expressed opposition to providing EU loans for the reactors, although they have expressed support for financing non-nuclear energy projects. Countries like Denmark and Belgium have also questioned whether new reactors represent the cheapest way of ensuring that the Ukraine has adequate power supplies. The report will also fuel concerns over the condition of nuclear plants in general in Central and Eastern Europe, many of which will be within European Union boundaries when the candidate countries join. |
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The disaster reactor encased in its leaky shell |
Some rather interesting, if delayed, statistics on workplace accidents have been issued by Eurostat. They show that between 1994 and 1996 the accident rate in the European Union fell by 7% in the case of those resulting in more than three days absence and 13% for fatal accidents. Certain industrial sectors and sections of the population fare less well however. In the wood industry the risk of accident is two and a half times the average and in metallurgy and construction twice as high; men are three times more likely than women to be absent from work for three days or more due to an accident whilst people aged between 18 and 35 run a 35% higher risk than average.
Member State |
1996 |
% change on 1994 |
Member State |
1996 |
% change on 1994 |
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Sweden |
1,217 |
+8.4 |
EU average |
4,229 |
-6.8 |
|
Ireland |
1,494 |
--,-- |
Netherlands |
4,251 |
--.-- |
|
United Kingdom |
1,550 |
-19.1 |
Luxembourg |
4,741 |
+5.2 |
|
Denmark |
2,704 |
+1.9 |
France |
4,964 |
-10.0 |
|
Finland |
3,372 |
-13.8 |
Belgium |
5,059 |
+14.6 |
|
Austria |
3,354 |
--.-- |
Germany |
5,098 |
-8.7 |
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Greece |
3,783 |
+2.2 |
Spain |
6,736 |
+9.2 |
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Italy |
4,179 |
-10.0 |
Portugal |
6,949 |
-5.6 |
A new Eurostat report shows that deaths from road traffic accidents fell by 25% in the EU between 1990 and 1996. Since then however the figures are virtually unchanged. Over the 1990s as a whole the number of deaths fell in all Member States except Greece. The biggest reductions were in Austria, Finland, the UK and Spain. The safest roads are now in Sweden and the U.K. with the most dangerous being in Portugal and Greece. In 1998 the total number of deaths on the roads was 42,600 compared with 800 on the railways. Taking into account numbers of travellers and distance travelled this means that road travel is 20 times more dangerous.
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