UKRAINE: THE ONLY OPERATIONAL REACTOR AT UKRAINE'S CHERNOBYL NUCLEAR POWER PLANT IS BACK ON LINE

Record ID: 216058

  • Title: UKRAINE: THE ONLY OPERATIONAL REACTOR AT UKRAINE'S CHERNOBYL NUCLEAR POWER PLANT IS BACK ON LINE
  • Date: 6th March 1999
  • Summary: CHERNOBYL, UKRAINE (MARCH 6, 1999) (REUTERS (A)) 1. LV OF THE CHERNOBYL STATION NUCLEAR PLANT 0.05 2. SLV/SV/MCU OF THE CONTROL ROOM WITH WORKERS (4 SHOTS) 0.25 3. OFF SCREEN PICTURES OF THE INSIDE OF THE REACTOR 0.42 4. SV/CU WORKERS IN CONTROL ROOM/CONTROL PANELS IN THE CONTROL ROOM (2 SHOTS) 0.54 5. MCU (Russian) ANDREI SHANTS
  • Embargoed: 21st March 1999 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: CHERNOBYL, UKRAINE
  • Country: Ukraine
  • Reuters ID: LVAA3N2F4171VB7J2279VB0NBDK0
  • Story Text: The only operational reactor at Ukraine's Chernobyl
    nuclear power plant is back on line after repairs, delayed by
    nearly a month, were completed.

    Chernobyl's reactor number 3, closed for repairs last
    year, was restarted on Saturday (March 6).

    The repairs which began on December 15 last year were
    originally expected to end by February 15 but continued after
    workers found additional defects in pipelines.

    Originally, the Chernobyl plant had four reactors.One
    exploded, in April 1986, spewing a cloud of poisonous
    radioactive dust over Ukraine, Belarus, Russia and parts of
    Western Europe in the world's worst civil nuclear disaster.

    The other two were closed down in 1991 and 1996
    respectively.

    The memory of the 1986 disaster has bred concerns about
    the safety of the only functioning reactor which, over the
    past several years, has been reported to malfunction and has
    undergone repairs.

    The Group of Seven leading industrial nations have put
    pressure on Ukraine to shut down Chernobyl by 2000 in exchange
    for aid to replace the closed reactors with two new more
    modern types.

    But Kiev has long maintained it needs the existing
    reactors to help fulfill the country's electricity requirements.

    Ukraine operates five nuclear power plants with 14
    Soviet-designed nuclear reactors that generate almost half the
    electricity produced by the country of 50 million people.

    Recently, Ukrainian officials have increased security at
    the country's nuclear power stations due to protests by
    nuclear workers near the plants.

    Hundreds of workers, protesting against unpaid salaries,
    have camped outside their stations since February 24.

    The protesters demand the government pays off by March 6
    debts on their salaries that near $15 million to date.

    Earlier this week the government promised to cover debts
    to protesters with a 260 million hryvnia ($71 million) credit
    to the ailing energy sector.

    Chernobyl nuclear power plant workers joined the protest
    on March 2.They have set up a tent city in Slavutich,
    Chernobyl's satellite town where most of the personnel of the
    power station live.


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