RE: Ukraine's Chernobyl Plant Shut Down

["Wright, Bill" <aqbvw@techmail.admin.ttu.edu>]

Sandy Perle.
I totally disagree. How would you enjoy it if the San Onofre Nuclear
Generating Station, near Dana Point, were to shutdown from June until
September & left you with no electricity for the summer???

Bill Wright
Radiation Safety Officer
Texas Tech University 
Lubbock, Texas

		-----Original Message-----
		From:	Sandy Perle [mailto:sandyfl@earthlink.net]
		Sent:	Thursday, December 02, 1999 6:02 PM
		To:	Multiple recipients of list
		Subject:	Ukraine's Chernobyl Plant Shut Down 

		It would be fortunate if this unit is still undergoing
maintenance 
		when the clock ticks midnight on the 31st.

		Thursday December 2 7:22 AM ET 

		Ukraine's Chernobyl Plant Shut Down  

		KIEV, Ukraine (AP) - The only working reactor at the
Chernobyl 
		nuclear power plant was shut down when a leak was detected
in a 
		water pipe, just six days after the plant was restarted,
officials said 
		today.  

		Chernobyl operators found the tiny leak in a pipeline of the
backup 
		cooling system during a planned examination, the Chernobyl
press 
		service said. The water in the pipe does not work in the
nuclear 
		reactor itself, but provides pressure to the reactor's
cooling system. 
		 

		The reactor was turned off Wednesday, said Oleh Holoskokov,
a 
		Chernobyl spokesman. He said there were no radiation leaks.


		Holoskokov said a week would be needed to repair the leak
and 
		that the reactor, the plant's only working one, should be
restarted 
		by Dec. 9.  

		Chernobyl was shut down for repairs on July 1 and was
restarted 
		last Friday.  

		Plant officials insist the reactor is safe, even though
Western 
		governments and environmental groups have urged the former 
		Soviet republic to shut it down for good.  

		Chernobyl's reactor No. 4 exploded in 1986, sending a
radioactive 
		cloud over much of Europe. That reactor is covered by a
steel-and-
		concrete sarcophagus that is currently undergoing repairs.  

		A 1995 agreement between Ukraine and the Group of Seven 
		leading industrialized nations said the plant should be
closed by 
		the year 2000.  

		But Ukraine has said it doesn't have the $1.2 billion needed
to 
		finish construction of two new reactors to replace the
output that 
		would be lost by closing Chernobyl.  

		The government has said it plans to shut down the nuclear
power 
		plant sometime next year and has called on the West to
provide 
		the necessary funds.  

		Ukraine's five nuclear power plants, with 14 reactors,
provide 40 
		percent of the country's electricity. At any given time,
several of the 
		reactors are down for repairs, but Ukraine says it can't
afford to 
		shut any of the plants down until more are built.
	
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------
		Sandy Perle					Tel:(714)
545-0100 / (800) 548-5100   				    	
		Director, Technical				Extension
2306 				     	
		ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Division		Fax:(714)
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sandyfl@earthlink.net 				                           
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sperle@icnpharm.com          	          
		Costa Mesa, CA 92626

		Personal Website:  http://www.geocities.com/scperle
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