Chornobyl Rad level increases - news article

[gj_vargo@ccmail.pnl.gov]

     "Ukraine Reviews How To Make Chernobyl Safer
     September 24, 1996, 5:27 PM EDT
     
     Reuters
     NewMedia
     
     KIEV, Ukraine (Reuter) - Ukraine's chief negotiator on closing the 
     Chernobyl nuclear power plant said Tuesday authorities were reviewing 
     how to make the "tomb" around its ruined fourth reactor safer after a 
     chain reaction last week.
     
     Environment Minister Yuri Kostenko's comments were the first admission 
     that increased readings of neutron activity amounted to a limited 
     chain reaction inside the reactor 10 years after it exploded in the 
     world's worst nuclear accident.
     
     But he said data was insufficient to determine whether it posed a real 
     threat.
     
     "As we are observing a chain reaction in the ruined reactor, we have 
     to review our strategy and take decisions to make the sarcophagus 
     safer," Kostenko told a news conference.
     
     "What we are observing shows that we must resolve the problem of 
     nuclear fuel inside.  By some means or other we must remove as much 
     fuel as possible to rule out the development of chain reactions inside 
     the devastated reactor."
     
     Kostenko said meters last week showed neutron radiation at dozens of 
     times the normal levels inside the cracking concrete and steel 
     covering, hurriedly erected after the disaster.
     
     He said heavy rains seeping through the estimated 1,000 square meters 
     of cracks in the structure had increased neutron activity.  Levels 
     have since returned to normal but Kostenko said that without further 
     research "it is therefore difficult to determine the extent of the 
     threat."
     
     Ukrainian officials last week described the higher readings as 
     dangerous and called for swifter efforts to replace the sarcophagus.
     
     They said such temporary increases had been recorded at least three 
     times in the past decade.  But Western experts said levels thousands 
     of times higher than normal would be required to cause a new nuclear 
     reaction.
     
     The wealthy Group of Seven countries have pledged more than $3 billion 
     to help Ukraine keep its promise to close Chemobyl's two working 
     reactors by the year 2000.
     
     But Ukrainian officials have complained the money is not being 
     distributed quickly enough to begin projects.
     
     Ministers say the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster, which spilled 
     radiation all over Europe, still soaks up large chunks of the 
     struggling former Soviet republic's budget.  The disaster is blamed 
     for more than 4,300 deaths in Ukraine alone.
     
     Officials also say Western experts have concentrated on restructuring 
     Ukraine's inefficient energy sector and neglected reconstruction of 
     the sarcophagus.  Chernobyl still provides 5 percent of Ukraine's 
     electricity.
     
     A project drawn up by a Franco-British consortium three years ago to 
     build a new sarcophagus has made no progress and is to be discussed at 
     a G7 meeting in Paris next month.
     
     Western experts have said that project is too expensive and called for 
     cheaper alternatives to persuade Western countries to provide 
     financing."