Topic: Peaceful Development of Nuclear Energy and Control of Fissile Material
Country: Ukraine
Delegate Name: Esperanza Cirilo
School: Saginaw Arts and Sciences Academy
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Ukraine position papers GLIMUN 2010 committees
The Ukraine is a strong supporter of nuclear energy. Nuclear energy had been a significant part of the Ukraine’s energy development and diversity since 1970. Currently about half of all electricity generated for civilian usage comes from it out of our 15 nuclear reactors. Two more were commissioned in 2004 and are being built. We encourage and are constantly updating ways to improve and make existing facilities more safe. The Ukrainian government, in accordance with its favor of nuclear energy, is planning to preserve its nuclear shares for electricity production. This would mean that by 2030 there will be much need for expansion.
The Ukraine signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and became a part in the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty in 1994 as a non-nuclear weapon state. This was after inheriting large amounts of nuclear weaponry from the disbandment of the Soviet Union. At this point the Ukraine possessed the world’s third largest nuclear arsenal. Our choice to turn the weaponry to Russia shows our willingness to cooperate on this topic. Obviously the Ukraine is all for peaceful development of nuclear energy.
The Ukraine will not consider shutting down any of our nuclear facilities yet we recognize our lack of a waste management strategy. So far we encourage and will hopefully eventually require storage of used fuel for at least 50 years. Used fuel and other materials are usually stored on site or sent to Russia for processing. Along these lines a new storage facility has been commissioned. We are open to other possibilities. Currently, safety and other such investigations have left geological storage area for high- and intermediate-level wastes at a stand still.
Nuclear energy is very beneficial to land-locked countries like the Ukraine with limited natural resources. We have in place many committees and programmes like the 1995 Commission of Nuclear policy and Environmental Safety. Also there is nuclear plant operating organization, Ukratomenergoprom and the State Committee for the Use of Nuclear
Power—Derzhkomatom or Goskomatom to name a few.
