Ukraine Orders Chernobyl Closed, Lithuania sets N-plant closure conference for June

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@earthlink.net>]

Ukraine Orders Chernobyl Closed

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) - Ukraine's government decided Wednesday to close 
down the Chernobyl nuclear power plant by the end of this year, as 
Western countries have long demanded. 

The government decision followed earlier pledges by President Leonid 
Kuchma to shut the plant, site of the world's worst nuclear accident. 


The Cabinet ordered the Fuel and Energy Ministry to work out a 
general plan for closing Chernobyl within three months. After that, a 
more detailed program taking into account social protection for 
Chernobyl's workers has to be devised within six months. 

Necessary spending has to be included in the 2001 budget, the 
government decision said. 

Kuchma promised the Clinton administration last month that the plant 
would be shut down this year. 

But Kuchma did not give a definite closing date and reiterated that 
Chernobyl would close only once American, Ukrainian and other 
international experts work out an aid deal to help compensate Ukraine 
for the energy it provides. 

The government's decision did not make such a requirement. But it did 
recommend that a Cabinet delegation hold negotiations with the so-
called Group of Seven, the world's most industrialized nations, and 
the European Union to ensure ``full and proper implementation'' of a 
1995 aid memorandum. 

Under the 1995 deal with the G-7, Ukraine promised to close Chernobyl 
in exchange for aid. But the former Soviet republic repeatedly 
delayed the closure, saying it never received the money. 

Cash-poor Ukraine, which gets about 40 percent of its electricity 
from Chernobyl and four other nuclear plants, has been seeking funds 
to help it complete two new nuclear reactors as compensation for 
Chernobyl's closure. 

Environmental groups have urged Ukraine to find alternative sources 
of energy, and critics have long accused it of using Chernobyl as 
leverage to get money from the West. 

Chernobyl's reactor No. 4 exploded and caught fire during a poorly 
conceived test in 1986, covering much of Europe with a radioactive 
cloud. 

The Ukrainian government has blamed at least 8,000 deaths on the 
disaster, including those killed immediately, workers who died in the 
massive cleanup operation, and people who subsequently died of cancer 
and other radiation-related illnesses. 

Three of Chernobyl's four reactors are now permanently shut down, 
leaving only one reactor, No. 3, in operation. It underwent long 
repairs last year but since has suffered several malfunctions. 

The government decision was announced as representatives of donor 
nations were meeting in Ukraine to discuss the future of Chernobyl 
and work on making the cement and steel sarcophagus covering the 
ruined No. 4 reactor safer. 
-----

Lithuania sets N-plant closure conference for June

VILNIUS, March 29 (Reuters) - The Lithuanian government on Wednesday 
set June 21-22 for an international donors' conference to address the 
massive costs of shutting down its Soviet-built Ignalina nuclear 
power plant. 

``To ensure the financing of the closure of the first reactor, the 
government authorises the economy ministry and the committee to hold 
an international donor conference on June 21-22,'' the government 
said in a statement. 

The government also established a committee to organise the 
conference, to be headed by Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius. 

Lithuania has committed to shutting Unit One of the two Chernobyl-
style reactors at Ignalina by 2005, but has said it needs 
international help to finance the estimated $5 billion it will cost 
to shut it down. 

It will make a decision on the second reactor in 2004, although the 
EU has said it expects the shutdown by 2009. 

The government has invited representatives of the European 
Commission, G-24 countries and other international financial 
organisations to the conference, where it hopes to raise some $50-$60 
million. 

The European Union is granting some 100 million euro ($96 million). 

Lithuania has said the first phase of the decommissioning will cost 
some $200 million. 

Ignalina, which was built in the 1980s on the same design as 
Ukraine's disastrous Chernobyl plant, supplies Lithuania with over 70 
percent of its electricity, making the Baltic state one of the most 
nuclear-dependent countries in the world. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sandy Perle					Tel:(714) 545-0100 / (800) 548-5100   				    	
Director, Technical				Extension 2306 				     	
ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Division		Fax:(714) 668-3149 	                   		    
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