A Partnership of unequals – Electricity exports from the eastern neighbourhood and western Balkans
June 7, 2012
Cooperation in the energy sector is one of the European Union’s key priorities in its relationships with neighbouring states. Although the promotion of energy efficiency, energy savings and the use of renewable energy sources should be the primary areas of cooperation along with “energy security”, the latter receives the lion’s share of attention and in several cases also a disproportionally large amount of financial support. This can have several negative environmental and social implications as this study shows.
Letter to EBRD requesting evaluation of K2R4 safety modernisation before considering new loan to Ukraine’s nuclear energy sector
June 1, 2012
Due to a number of so far unfulfilled project measures in an EBRD financed safety modernisation project in Ukraine (K2/R4 post start-up safety modernisation programme), Bankwatch has asked the EBRD’s Chief Evaluator for a thorough evaluation before further loans for Ukraine’s nuclear energy company Energoatom are being considered.
EBRD refutes claim it will fund Ukrainian reactor life extensions
May 31, 2012
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has rejected claims by an anti-nuclear group that a loan it is considering together with Euratom for Ukraine’s nuclear sector will be used to extend the operating lives of the country’s Soviet-era reactors.
EU nuclear grab looms large in Ukraine
May 14, 2012
Earlier this year at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Ukraine’s president Victor Yanukovych met Thomas Mirow, the EBRD president, with Yanukovych deeming the ongoing cooperation between Ukraine and the bank to be “excellent”. Other than this being a diplomatic pleasantry, when it comes to energy infrastructure projects Ukraine certainly appears to have done very well out of the EBRD: since 2005 the EBRD has committed more than half a billion euros for these projects in Ukraine, in particular for the upgrade and construction of high-voltage transmission lines. Yet the experience for all concerned – including local communities – has been far from excellent, and concerns are mounting that further grid expansion plans could be storing up yet more problems.
Chernobyl at 26: nuclear dynamite is growing in Ukraine
April 26, 2012
26 years ago, the days after the nuclear accident in Chernobyl had been marked by the glaring lack of information. Today, Europe’s population is similarly clueless as back then about the nuclear risk brewing in Ukraine.
Ukraine, EU: An incomplete debate on nuclear energy
March 21, 2012
For some people in Ukraine, it has been striking to see how little awareness and discussion there is in Europe about Kyiv’s plans to expand the lifetime of 12 old nuclear reactors, right on the doorstep of the EU and most likely at European taxpayers’ expense, writes Iryna Holovko, an environmental campaigner in Ukraine.
Round and round they go, what they finance next … nobody knows
March 13, 2012
There is more or less consensus among various stakeholders that developing decentralised renewable energy sources (RES) to feed local energy demand is the only way to build a long-term, truly sustainable, effective and fair way to satisfy Europe’s energy needs.
Ukraine’s risky nuclear future shouldn’t receive European support
March 9, 2012
Ukraine plans to extend the lifetimes of its fifteen nuclear reactors, most of which will soon pass their expiration date. A new report shows how these plans that are pursued in utter silence have seen only an inadequate assessment.
Bankwatch report: EU supports nuclear life time expansion in Ukraine
March 8, 2012
Money from Euratom and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is to be used to finance the life time expansion of Ukrainian nuclear reactors, 12 of which had initially been scheduled to close down no later than 2020, according to an expert report published today by CEE Bankwatch Network.
Critical Review of the Ukraine NPP Safety Upgrade Program
March 8, 2012
This expert review of Ukraine’s Nuclear Power Plant Safety Upgrade Program, that’s to be financed by Euratom and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development shows that some of the measures included in the SUP are necessary for the lifetime expansion of the plants and not for their regular functioning until the initially planned term.
