Lithuania wants new N-plant to replace Ignalina

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@EARTHLINK.NET>]

Index:



Lithuania wants new N-plant to replace Ignalina

Director of Los Alamos Resigns

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Lithuania wants new N-plant to replace Ignalina



VILNIUS, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus said 

on Thursday the Soviet-style Ignalina nuclear power plant, which is 

being decommissioned early for the sake of European Union entry, 

should be replaced by a new reactor.



"A way must be found to build a new, modern nuclear reactor," Adamkus 

said in a statement. "It is an ecologically clean way of producing 

electricity."



Lithuania, which was among the 10 mostly east European countries 

recently invited to join the EU in 2004, pledged during accession 

talks to close one of Ignalina's reactors by 2005 and the other by 

2009.



The EU considers the facility unsafe as it shares the same design as 

the ill-fated Chernobyl plant, and has promised to support the 

closure with 30 million euros in 2003 and 285 million euros under a 

special Ignalina programme in 2004-6.



The ex-Soviet republic says the shutdown will cost a total three 

billion euros over a 30-year period, and has put aside 416 million 

euros of its own and amassed 216 million in an international donor 

fund.



"In my view that is the cleanest and cheapest power that can be found 

in the world and Lithuania cannot give it up," Adamkus told the 

Baltic News Service during a visit to the Ignalina plant on Thursday.



He said that if re-elected he would create a special working group to 

develop concrete proposals for the project, adding he had already 

consulted "quietly" on the issue with international French and German 

experts and with the Finnish president.



Adamkus is the favourite to win a runoff election on Sunday after 

winning the first round on December 22.



"I don't think it will violate our international commitments, since I 

clearly told leaders of all the EU countries in a closed session that 

Lithuania is not renouncing atomic energy in the future and we will 

do everything to be able to build a modern reactor," BNS quoted him 

as saying.



In 2001, Ignalina accounted for 77.6 percent of all electricity 

produced in Lithuania, making it the world's most nuclear-dependent 

country.

-----------------



Director of Los Alamos Resigns



ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - The director of the problem-plagued Los 

Alamos National Laboratory has resigned, effective immediately, a 

University of California spokesman said Thursday.



The spokesman, Rick Malaspina, said an interim director has been 

appointed to replace Director John Browne. He did not immediately 

identify the replacement. The university runs the nuclear research 

lab for the federal government.



Malaspina did not give a specific reason for Browne's resignation but 

said it was a ``mutual decision'' by him and university officials. 

Lab employees were being informed of the change, he said.



The lab has been under investigation for alleged lapses in property 

and monetary controls.



A memo released by whistle blowers in November said nearly $1.3 

million worth of computers, phones and other property was unaccounted 

for at the lab in the budget year 2001.



Last month, an audit report was released that said nearly $4.9 

million in employee credit card purchases at the lab were not 

processed properly, were questionable or had been disputed by the lab 

and not credited by the bank.



Browne said at the time that the lab had already fired one employee 

for using a lab credit card to buy food and gas and get cash advances 

and was considering action against three others.







-------------------------------------------------

Sandy Perle

Director, Technical

ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Service

ICN Plaza, 3300 Hyland Avenue

Costa Mesa, CA 92626



Tel:(714) 545-0100 / (800) 548-5100  Extension 2306

Fax:(714) 668-3149



E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net

E-Mail: sperle@icnpharm.com



Personal Website: http://sandy-travels.com/

ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Website: http://www.dosimetry.com/



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