Ukraine hopes to receive help from France regarding the nuclear safety of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, because due to the war, the country cannot solve some urgent problems on its own.
For example, about €1 million is needed for the inspection of the unstable structures of the "Shelter", an isolation structure above the ChNPP power unit 4, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources reports on Facebook.
The report said that on February 6, the Deputy Minister of Environment and Natural Resources Oleksandr Krasnolutskyi and the Ambassador of France to Ukraine Etienne de Ponsin visited the Exclusion Zone.
Krasnolutsky emphasized that the Chernobyl zone needs not only restoration, but also the solution of urgent problems that Ukraine cannot cope with on its own due to the war.
It is noted that the Ukrainian-French delegation in the city of Chornobyl visited the Alley of Memory and the exhibition of robots that helped to eliminate the consequences of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. They also visited the main square of Pripyat, inspected the destroyed Slavutchan bridge, the "Duga" radar station, and the "dry" spent nuclear fuel storage facility.
In addition, Ponsen was shown the protective zone of the structure where the occupiers kept the National Guard soldiers and the Russian trenches in the Red Forest on the radionuclide-contaminated areas.
The message added that Krasnolutskyi and Etienne de Ponsin visited the interior of the New Secure Confinement, which was put into operation in 2021. It was built with the support of donor funds from international partners. Then Ukraine undertook to finance the maintenance of the building.
"It is our duty, despite the war, to ensure the nuclear security of Ukraine. After all, it is not only about our state, but also about the security of the whole world. Today we are talking about it with our partners from France. We are counting on fruitful cooperation," Krasnolutskyi said.
Earlire, EcoPolitic wrote, that at one of the sites in the Red Forest in the Chernobyl zone, where the Russian military dug trenches, Energoatom specialists recorded abnormally high levels of radiation.
As EcoPolitic previously reported, the Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine Ruslan Strelets said that the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone could become a world scientific center for the study of the peaceful atom.
