U.N. Checks Yugoslav Reactor

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

Friday June 4 6:08 PM ET 

U.N. Checks Yugoslav Reactor

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The U.N. nuclear agency has made its 
first inspection of a Yugoslav nuclear reactor since NATO began 
bombing the country 21/2 months ago, a U.N. spokesman said 
Friday.  

The airstrikes disrupted inspections by the Vienna-based 
International Atomic Energy Agency, and there were fears that the 
reactor or nuclear material might be bombed.  

The agency had also missed monthly visits to the Vinca nuclear 
facility, about 12 miles from Belgrade's city center, in February and 
March - making this week's inspection the first in a critical five-
month period.  

``The agency is not anticipating that anything unusual will come 
out of the inspection,'' said U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard.

There was no immediate report from the three inspectors, who were 
expected to return to Vienna Saturday morning, Eckhard said.  

Under normal circumstances, the IAEA carries out monthly 
inspections of the reactor and substantial nuclear material stored at
the site.

The 6.5-megawatt Russian-made research reactor, which was 
completed in 1959, is in poor condition and has been out of 
operation for at least a year. It needs repairs by Russian experts, 
but work has been delayed, apparently by a lack of money.  

IAEA spokesman David Kyd said last month that regular 
inspections are needed because Yugoslavia has 132 pounds of 
highly enriched uranium stored at the site, enough for two nuclear 
bombs.  

Some bomb-quality uranium is still in the reactor and 5,000 fuel 
rods are contained in 30 drums that are kept in a cooling pond, he
said.

The Yugoslav government invited nuclear inspectors to return to 
Vinca in April. The IAEA accepted in May but the inspectors got to 
the site just this week because logistics had to be worked out, 
Eckhard said.  

Vinca was conceived as a multimillion-dollar project to produce 
nuclear material for a particle accelerator.

The late Yugoslav President Josip Broz Tito had ambitions to build 
a nuclear bomb. But in the 1960s a major radiation leak occurred, 
killing at least two scientists and injuring several others.  

A huge nuclear waste depot is located next to Vinca, and even 
before NATO started bombing Yugoslavia, several 
environmentalists had warned of a possible radiation disaster that 
could threaten Belgrade.

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

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