The explosion at a Ukrainian coal mine which killed 63 people at the weekend was a sad reminder of the decrepit state of the country's energy sector. The day before the blast, the European Bank for Reconstrution and Development re-opened a wider controversy over Ukraine's energy needs. EBRD officials in London gave a preview of a study supporting a project to complete the construction of two Russian-designed nuclear power plants in Ukraine - the Kiev government's condition for closing down Chernobyl, site of the world's worst nuclear accident 12 years ago.