New agreement on transportation of nuclear waste by bypassing Moldova will be signed

Ukraine, Russia and Bulgaria have completed drawing up a new agreement on transit of nuclear fuel for Bulgaria's Kozloduy nuclear power plant through Ukraine, but it will bypass Moldova this time, according to the news agency Itar-Tass. The head of Ukraine's State Committee for Nuclear Regulation, Olena Mykolaychuk, said the document legally defines the route for transporting fuel rods bypassing Moldova. Under the previous 10-year agreement on cooperation in transporting nuclear substances, Russia and Ukraine [as received], fresh nuclear fuel was delivered from Russia to Kozloduy through Ukraine and Moldova, Mykolaychuk said. The same route was used to transport spent nuclear fuel to Russia for reprocessing. However, it had to be changed in 2001 due to increasing tension in [Moldova's breakaway] Dniester region. However, the route was not defined in legal terms until now. The new accord is also valid for 10 years. This decision ran counter Article 77 of the June 16, 1993 law saying that “Moldova will not admit the building of atomic stations, location and transit of any nuclear waste in its territory.” The parliament refused then to ratify the agreement, but the cabinet of ministers insisted and it allowed only the transportation of a trainload with used fuel from Bulgaria to Russia. Sofia has paid between 50,000 and 70,000 dollars, according to different sources. The spent nuclear fuel conveys Moldova in transit from Bulgaria to Russia since the Soviet Union. After the Communist Party has won the 2001 elections, the new parliament ratified the agreement with Bulgaria, Russia and Ukraine, which stipulates the transit of nuclear waste through Moldova within 15 years and possibility to extend this term automatically. The Chisinau authorities did not react to the decision of Kiev, Sofia and Moscow to modify the route for transportation of nuclear fuel from Bulgaria to Russia. Russian specialists had built the Kozloduy nuclear power plant in the 1960s and it is older than the Chernobyl station. The European Union has conditioned the integration of Bulgaria through closure of this station by 2005.