Chernobyl Nuclear Accident Congressional Hearings Transcript

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their transition to a new forms of government and economy. The opportunity presented
today is short hved—it is to be acted on or it goes away.
This plan was produced by entrepreneurial initiative—a characteristic that has
historically made American business strong. This initiative must now begin implementation
and for that, we need the support of the United States government.
Brand new programs are not required. We simply need support for the Chernobyl
Plan from existing government institutions and in new legislation now being considered
by Congress.
In the section that follows, I present an outline overview of the plan for Chernobyl.
CHERNOBYL COMPREHENSIVE ENVIRONMENTAL REMEDLATION PROGRAM
Introduction
MinChernobyl requires funding to establish a system to mitigate, reduce and,
where possible, eliminate the consequences throughout Ukraine of the 1986 accident
at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. A management and technical support team
will be assembled, and preliminary plans will be developed for an integrated approach
to gathering information, assembling appropriate technology, and conducting,
under the direction of MinChernobyl, a comprehensive cleanup and remediation
project.
On August 2, 1990, Goskomchernobyl UkSSR was established by the Supreme
Soviet then converted to MinChernobyl in May of 1991 as the Ministry responsible
for all Ukrainian Government actions regarding consequences of the Chernobyl accident.
Since the events of Autumn 1992, including fires at the powerplant, the independence
of Ukraine, and the decision of the Parliament of Ukraine to cease operations
at the powerplant, responsibilities of MinChernobyl have expanded.
Mission
The main tasks of MinChernobyl are:
• To solve the entire complex of problems regarding the elimination of consequences
of the Chernobyl accident, protection of the population, and coordination of
research and medical institutions, state, and other establishments and organizations
of Ukraine;
• To resolve financing of all scientific and technical projects;
• To conduct analyses of the scientific and technical projects and other developments;
• To control Ukrainian material and technical supply; and,
• To accomplish scientific, technical, and economic connections with other republics
and organizations abroad.
Organizations at the site which formerly reported to the central government of
the Soviet Union, such as "Complex Expedition" (responsible for the Sarcophagus),
now report to MinChernobyl. In addition, MinChernobyl shares responsibility for decommissioning
of the remaining power generating reactors.
In order to complete remediation of the consequences of the Chernobyl accident,
the work has been organized into four phases which will take place over a thirtyyear
period. Table 1 identifies Project phases and estimated costs. This grant request
is for Phase One to be approved and funded now, and for Phase Two to be
reviewed, approved and funded later.
Project Management
MinChernobyl, after an extensive review of private firms in Europe £md United
States, selected Los Alamos Technical Associates, Inc. (LATA) as Project Manager
and Systems Integrator for the entire project. LATA assembled a base team of private
companies and universities to assist in the technical work. In addition, LATA
secured the cooperation of Sandia National Laboratories to serve as coordinator and
integrator for all US National Laboratory participation. Sandia's role will be to
assess, enhance, and demonstrate where necessary, and to transfer state-of-the-art
technologies to LATA for use on the project. Augmenting this US base team will be
Ukrainian and other international firms. Competitive procurement for specific sub
projects will be in accord with the procedures of the funding source.
The base team consists of the following organizations.
Prime Contractor
• Los Alamos Technical Associates, Inc.
Subcontractors
• Lockheed AWC
• Westinghouse SEG
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