KIEV, May 26 (RIA Novosti) - A decision on building a dry nuclear waste depository near Chernobyl, the site of the world's worst nuclear accident, may be made by the end of 2006, an official said Friday.
"This is a very optimistic forecast," said Yelena Mikolaichuk, head of Ukraine's state nuclear regulation committee.
She also said the depository project, proposed by U.S. company Holtec International, was currently under examination.
In December, Ukraine's Energoatom and Holtec International signed a contract to design and build a dry nuclear waste depository within the 30-km (18-mile) exclusion zone imposed in the aftermath of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.
President Viktor Yushchenko approved the idea, despite wide protests from public and environmental organizations.
"We are not opposed to this project," Mikolaichuk said, adding that the committee would back it if it met nuclear and environmental security requirements.
The project will then be considered by Ukraine's government and parliament.
Vast areas of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia, as well as northern Europe, were contaminated by the fallout of the reactor explosion in the fourth reactor of the Chernobyl NPP in Ukraine on April 26, 1986. About 135,000 people were evacuated from within an 18-mile zone, which has left the surrounding area largely deserted to this day.
