Ukraine raises $785m to seal Chernobyl under new 'shell'
World governments pledge millions for the construction of a 20,000-tonne steel arch to prevent further radiation leaks............................
The French prime minister, François Fillon, said Fukushima evoked memories of Chernobyl: "More than ever, our responsibility is to join together our efforts to limit the consequences of such disasters and to prepare for the future."
Mikhail Gorbachev, president of the Soviet Union at the time of the Chernobyl disaster and now head of the environment group Green Cross International, used the occasion of the 25th anniversary to say nuclear power was not the answer to the world's energy problems or to climate change.
In a statement he said: "Nuclear power has been presented as a financially sound, economically efficient, clean and safe solution that will bring about energy security and drive economic growth. Recently, the so-called 'nuclear renaissance' has hitched a free ride on the back of the need to find low-carbon solutions to the climate crisis.
"The bottom line on the economics of nuclear power is that it simply does not add up. That is why private investment is wisely focusing on better alternatives.
"It is necessary to realise that nuclear power is not a panacea, as some observers allege, for energy sufficiency or climate change. Its cost effectiveness is also exaggerated, as its real cost does not account for hidden expenses.
"In the United States, for example, direct subsidies to nuclear energy amounted to $115bn between 1947 and 1999, with an additional $145bn in indirect subsidies. In contrast, subsidies to wind and solar energy, combined over this same period, totalled only $5.5bn."
But Mohamed ElBaradei, former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said: "Today, nuclear power is the only real alternative to fossil fuel as a source of a reliable supply."
He acknowledged that confidence in atomic energy had taken a severe blow after the tsunami-triggered disaster at Fukushima. "Fukushima represents a potentially significant setback for nuclear power," he told participants at the forum, although he stressed that confidence would be "re-established in due course", then added: "Chernobyl and Fukushima should be shown to be aberrations."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/apr/19/ukraine-funding-chernobyl-arch
