Chernobyl's Only Reactor Restarted

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

Saturday March 6 6:27 PM ET 

Chernobyl's Only Reactor Restarted

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) - The only operational reactor at Ukraine's 
Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the site of the world's worst nuclear 
accident in 1986, was restarted Saturday after lengthy repairs.  

Chernobyl's reactor No. 3 was shut down Dec. 15 for repairs that 
were initially delayed because of energy shortages in the former 
Soviet republic. It was to have been restarted Feb. 16, but the state 
nuclear energy company Energoatom said it needed more time to 
fix it.  

Repairs included safety upgrades and a check of the reactor's 
regular and emergency cooling systems, which had 50 defects, the 
report said.  

Reactor No. 3 is the only one remaining of four originally operating 
at the plant.

One of the Soviet-made RBMK reactors was closed in 1996, a 
second has been inactive since a 1991 fire, and the third was 
destroyed in the 1986 explosion and fire that spewed radiation over 
much of Europe.  

Ukraine has pledged to close Chernobyl by 2000, but it wants 
international aid to build two new reactors to compensate for lost 
energy. The country's five nuclear plants account for more than 40 
percent of its electricity.  

Meanwhile, hundreds of nuclear energy workers protested to 
demand unpaid wages and more government controls over the 
energy industry, plagued by consumer nonpayments.  

Last week, the government pledged $33.3 million to pay back 
wages but never issued the actual order to pay, union leaders say.

------------------------
Sandy Perle
E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net
Personal Website: http://www.geocities.com/capecanaveral/1205

************************************************************************
The RADSAFE Frequently Asked Questions list, archives and subscription
information can be accessed at http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/~rad/radsafe.html