-Caveat Lector-
Despite international protests, Ukraine restarts Chernobyl Copyright ©
1999 Nando Media Copyright © 1999 Associated Press
<http://www.nandotimes.com/healthscience/story/0,1080,500061725-500102010-50
0437107-0,00.html>
By MARINA SYSOYEVA
KIEV, Ukraine (November 26, 1999 7:19 a.m. EST http://www.nandotimes.com) -
The Ukrainian authorities Friday restarted the last working nuclear reactor
at the Chernobyl power plant, ignoring strong international pressure to
shut it down.
Reactor No. 3 was restarted at 5:30 a.m. Friday after almost five months of
repairs. It was initially running at about 5 percent of capacity and was
gradually increasing its output, said a spokeswoman for the plant who
declined to give her name. She would not say when the reactor was expected
to reach full power.
Officials at Chernobyl insist that reactor No. 3 is safe and is free of any
potential Y2K bugs - the glitches where a computer might misread the last
two digits of a date and mistake the year 2000 for 1900.
Western governments and environmental groups have long urged Ukraine to
close the plant, and a 1995 agreement between Ukraine and the Group of
Seven leading industrialized nations said the plant should be closed by the
year 2000.
"We're completely opposed to restarting Chernobyl," Ben Pearson, an
anti-nuclear campaigner in the Amsterdam office of the environmental group
Greenpeace, said earlier this week. "Chernobyl is probably the most
dangerous reactor in the world."
The Ukrainian government says it is planning to shut down Chernobyl
sometime next year. But the government says it needs $1.2 billion from the
West to finish construction of two new reactors to replace the output that
will be lost by closing Chernobyl.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, which has played a
leading role in the discussions on financing, was supposed to make a loan
decision in September. But it has taken no action, and other potential
lenders are expected to wait for the EBRD before they commit any money.
The Chernobyl plant originally had four working nuclear reactors. However,
reactor No. 4 exploded in April 1986, spewing radiation over much of
Europe. Ukrainian authorities have blamed 8,000 deaths on the world's
worst-ever nuclear accident.
That reactor has been encased in a steel-and-concrete sarcophagus, and the
two others have been permanently shut down. One was destroyed in the 1986
accident.
Meanwhile, workers have begun repairs on the sarcophagus, which was hastily
constructed after the accident to prevent additional radiation leaks. The
workers will strengthen the sarcophagus' concrete beams, working through
December from both inside and outside the huge structure.
Ukraine continues to operate 14 reactors at five power plants, which supply
about 40 percent of the country's energy. While some Ukrainians want to see
Chernobyl and other Soviet-designed nuclear plants shut, Ukrainian
authorities face much greater pressure from governments and environmental
groups in the West.
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