The deputy of the Bundestag, the chairman of the Committee for Environmental Protection Sylvia Cotting-Uhl criticized the insufficient amount of compensation paid to the victims of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Speaking on Wednesday, April 25, at a meeting of the parliamentary committee, she pointed out that the payments do not correspond to the size prescribed by law, reports DW.
In addition, the deputy from the "greens" criticized Ukraine's energy policy, which still relies on nuclear energy. According to Cotting-Uhl, who visited the catastrophe region on April 10-13, the European Commission supports this policy, in particular, by providing loans for security measures, which allows extending the lifetime of Ukrainian NPPs.
In her report, Silvia Cotting-Uhl touched, inter alia, the commercial use of the exclusion zone around the crashed station - tourism thrives there. However, in this territory, obviously, will be organized a center for the storage of spent nuclear fuel. In particular, there is planned to build a burial ground for small and medium-sized waste, as well as an intermediate storage for high-level waste. At the same time, there are no plans to create a repository for high-level waste, as Cotting-Uhl pointed out, Kiev intends to first familiarize itself with the experience of Germany and the Scandinavian countries.
The meeting was also addressed by the Parliamentary State Secretary to the Minister of the Environment Rita Schwarzelour-Zutter), who spoke of delays in putting into operation the protective arch over the destroyed 4th power unit, which was built in November 2016.
According to Schwarzelljur-Zutter, because of the high level of radiation in some parts of the reactor, work can only be done there in a limited amount.
As expected, finally the sarcophagus will be ready by the end of this year, said Schwarzerur-Sutter.
The meeting of the Bundestag Committee on Environmental Protection, dedicated to the consequences of the Chernobyl accident, was timed to coincide with the 32nd anniversary of the largest man-made disaster that occurred on April 26, 1986.