Vocabulary

Research – наукове дослідження; дослідницька робота

state-of-the-art – передовий; який використовує новітні технології

forecast – прогноз; прогнозувати

fuel-energy complex – паливно-енергетичний комплекс

extraction – добування

accumulation – накопичення

environmental impact – вплив на довкілля

exploration – дослідження, дослід

Assignments

1. Read and translate text 8 using the vocabulary.

2. Make up a plan of the text.

3. Speak on:

1. The main targets of the Institute for Renewable Energy.

2. The basic research fields of:

- Department for Complex Energy Systems;

- Solar Energy Department;

- Wind Energy Department;

- Hydro-Power Department;

- Geothermal Power Department;

- Bioenergy Department.

Text 9. Chornobyl Shelter and Storage

Ukrainian officials signed a $505 million contract with a French-led consortium on Sept. 17 for the construction of a new shelter for the Chornobyl reactor, the site of the world’s worst nuclear accident.

The price tag for the shelter may be as high as $655.7 million after it is scheduled completed in 2012.

The project, financed by an international fund managed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, will be designed and built by the French-led consortium Novarka, which includes the companies Bouygues SA and Vinci SA.

The new shelter – an arch-shaped steel structure 105 metres tall and 150 metres long – will enclose the concrete sarcophagus erected hastily after the 1986 accident. The existing structure has been crumbling and leaking radiation for more than a decade. The shelter is designed to provide protection for at least one hundred years, according to the UNIAN news agency.

“I am convinced that today, possibly for the first time, we can frankly tell the national and international community that the answer to the problem of sheltering the Chornobyl nuclear plant has been found”, President Victor Yushchenco said at the signing ceremony.

The plan is to eventually dismantle the sarcophagus and the exploded reactor inside the new shelter. Chornobyl’s reactor No. 4 exploded on April 26, 1986, spewing radiation over a large territory of the former Soviet Union and much of northern Europe. An area roughly half the size of Italy was contaminated, forcing the resettlement of hundreds of thousands of people.

Ukraine has repeatedly asked for money from the European Union and other Western sources to fund a new shelter.

Anton Usov, a spokesman of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, said it would take about one year to design the shelter and another four to build it.

More that $1.3 billion since 1997

The entire project of sheltering the reactor, which had began in

1997 and included also strengthening the existing sarcophagus, monitoring radiator and training experts, was estimated at $1.39 billion.

Officials also signed a $200 million contract with the New Jersey-based Holtec International for decommissioning the power plant. The project includes building a storage facility for spent nuclear fuel from the plant’s three other reactors, which had kept operating until the station was shut down in 2000.

The undertaking is also financed by international donors in a fund managed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

“The successful implementation of the project depends not only on the progress of the construction work, but also on the continued commitment of both the Ukrainian authorities and the international community,” – EBRD President Jean Lemierre said in a statement.

In the first two months after the disaster, 31 people died from illnesses caused by radioactivity, but there is a heated debate over the subsequent toll.

On Sept. 18 the deputy secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Serhiy Parashyn said that the sides had agreed the final price tag could be $150 million more because the costs of materials and services would grow over the course of the five-year project.

Affected areas

A 2005 report from the UN health agency estimated that about 9,300 people would die from cancer caused by Chornobyl’s radiation. Some groups, such as Greenpeace, insist the toll could be 10 times higher.

A 2007 survey of the world’s top ten worst-polluted places placed Chornobyl at number nine. In its annual rating the New York-based Blacksmith Institute said that initially 5.5 million people were affected by the accident, but now the number of the affected people is disputed.

“Given its resounding infamy and despite the subsequent progress that has been made at this site, Chornobyl is included in the top ten “worst-polluted places” list due to its residual environmental impact as well as its potential to further affect an extensive region and population,” according to the institute.