Chernobyl's Only Reactor Restarted
Saturday, 6 March 1999
K I E V , U K R A I N E (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. |
