U.S. Dismisses Cuba-Russia Nuclear Plant Revival

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

Saturday May 15 12:37 AM ET 

U.S. Dismisses Cuba-Russia Nuclear Plant Revival

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States Friday dismissed 
Cuban and Russian plans to resume work on a nuclear power plant 
on the island, saying it was unrealistic to continue construction on 
a project abandoned seven years ago.  

News reports from Moscow said Russia and Cuba agreed to set up 
a joint venture to finish the power station at Juragua, where work 
stopped in 1992 after the Soviet Union collapsed.  

Completion of the two Soviet-designed light-water reactors at the 
station located on Cuba's southern coast about 175 miles (280 km) 
from the Florida Keys is seen as a safety risk by the United 
States.  

``The plant is basically an empty shell that has been sitting idle 
since 1992 and seems to be in a very deteriorated state,'' a State 
Department official said.  

The official said the plant was badly corroded by the salt that blows 
in from the Caribbean Sea.

Completing the plant would cost about $800 million and it is not 
clear where Cuba or Russia would get the cash.

``It would take a tremendous capital influx to salvage this plant,'' 
the U.S. official said, adding it was doubtful whether either of the 
two countries would ``be able to find the money to even begin doing 
any work on it.''  

Construction of the reactors began in the early 1980s with Soviet 
technology that is considered unsafe and could spread radiation 
into the United States in the event of an accident.  

Experts say the light-water reactors are safer than the graphite-
cooled model used in Chernobyl, Ukraine, the site of the world's 
worst nuclear accident. But they still do not meet the safety 
standards of Western nations, critics say.  

A 1992 report from the U.S. General Accounting Office said there 
was evidence of poor construction at the plant, citing testimony of 
former Juragua workers who raised concerns about shoddy 
installation of cooling pipes, bad welds and improper storage of 
equipment at the seaside plant.  

Caribbean winds would likely blow radiation leaks north to Florida 
and up the U.S. eastern seaboard to Washington, D.C., or possibly 
west to Texas, according to data from the National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration.  

Scientists at Florida State University are taking no chances and in 
January began setting up a network to track potential radiation from 
the unfinished Cuban nuclear plant.  

The early warning system will analyze air samples collected by 
monitoring stations in St. Petersburg, Florida, Miami, the Florida  
Keys and other locations around the Gulf of Mexico.

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

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