Russia is to help Ukraine fund the completion of two nuclear reactors that will replace the units at the Chernobyl power station, the Ukraine president said.
According to the president, the Russian government is to put aside $180 million for the project in its 1999 budget, Reuters reports. But Russia is, itself, currently in the midst of a financial crisis and the cash may not be easy to find.
Western countries have been putting pressure on Ukraine to close the Chernobyl plant and in 1995 Ukraine said it would shut down the station by 2000. However it claims it will cost around $2 billion to complete the reactors at Rovno and Khmelnitsky to compensate for the loss of capacity at Chernobyl.
Funding for the two reactors is still not in place. Ukraine is looking for support from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development but is becoming impatient with the slow progress. The governent appears unlikely to shut down the one functioning reactor at Chernobyl until it has a replacement supply.