The Committee on Environmental Policy and Nature Management reviewed and recommended that the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopt in the second reading and as a whole the draft law No. 12356 with a new title “On Approval of the National Target Environmental Program for Radioactive Waste Management for 2025-2032”.
This was reported on the official website of the Environmental Committee following the meeting held on May 22.
The deputies considered 255 amendments submitted to the draft law. Of these, 92 amendments were taken into account, 9 were partially taken into account, 1 was editorially corrected, and 153 were rejected.
The chairman of the committee, Oleg Bondarenko, also submitted his proposals to the draft law. They concerned the final version of the title and text of the draft law's articles. The committee members supported these proposals.
As a result, the title of the draft law No. 12356 was changed. At the time of registration, it was called “On the National Target Environmental Program for Radioactive Waste Management”. Now the name has been clarified and the period for which this program is designed has been specified.
The discussion was attended by the heads of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine, the State Agency of Ukraine on Exclusion Zone Management and the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate.
Why the new program was developed
The explanatory note to the draft Law No. 12356 states that the previous program was designed for the period of 2008-2017. The tasks and activities envisaged by it were funded from the state budget by only 10%.
This funding was sufficient only for the maintenance of radioactive waste management infrastructure, but did not allow for the full implementation of the tasks envisaged by the program. Therefore, most of them were not implemented, the necessary elements of the radioactive waste management infrastructure were not created, and an integrated radioactive waste management system was not established.
Program objective:
- to significantly reduce the negative impact on the environment of facilities that generate radioactive waste (such as NPPs);
- optimize the processes of their storage and utilization;
- establish strict control and ensure transparency of all stages of work.
The Ministry of Environment says that the Program takes into account the best European practices and contains measures to improve environmental and radiation safety in Ukraine. According to the developers, it will also help create conditions for the safe and sustainable use of nuclear energy in electricity production, and will have a positive impact on the environmental and energy security of the state.
On December 23, 2024, the Government of Ukraine approved the draft Law of Ukraine “On the National Target Environmental Program for Radioactive Waste Management”. At its meeting on February 18, the Environmental Committee supported this document.
On February 27, the Ukrainian parliament voted in favor of this draft law in the first reading.
