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Ukraine receives 39 bids for solar farm in Chernobyl area

Xinhua, January 17, 2017 Adjust font size:

The Ukrainian government has received 39 bids at the first stage of the tender for building a solar farm near the destroyed Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Ostap Semerak said on Monday.

"This is a remarkable progress in the realization of our ambitious plan to build a renewable energy park in the Chernobyl area," Semerak wrote on Facebook.

At the second stage of the bidding, which lasts until March 1, the Ukrainian government hopes to receive new propositions from local and foreign investors on developing the Chernobyl area.

Last month, Kiev launched the tender for building a solar farm in the Chernobyl area capable of generating up to 1,500 GWh of electricity per year.

According to Semerak, Ukraine is in talks with a tandem of two Chinese companies, China National Complete Engineering Corporation (CCEC) and Golden Concord Holdings Limited (GCL), over their participation in the project.

The Chernobyl nuclear power plant, located some 110 km away from the Ukrainian capital Kiev, witnessed one of the worst nuclear accidents in human history on April 26, 1986. The disaster has caused irreparable damage to the local environment and public health.

For decades, the 30-km-radius territory around the plant has been designated as an exclusion zone, where ordinary people have been prohibited from entering.

In 2016, the destroyed reactor was covered with a protective shelter to prevent further leakage of radiation. Endit