http://www.russiatoday.com/news.php3?id=131006

Ukraine Repairs Chernobyl After New Problem

KIEV, Feb 2, 2000 -- (Reuters) Ukraine energy officials said Tuesday they had shut down the only operating reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant for the second time within days.

The reactor at Chernobyl, site of the world's worst civil nuclear disaster in 1986, had been restarted on Monday after a minor malfunction caused a shutdown last week.

But the unit was stopped again early on Tuesday after excessive pressure was detected in its water system, forcing a shutdown until Thursday, a spokesman for Energoatom, Ukraine's state-run nuclear energy company, said.

"The station has been forced to prolong repair works due to a minor accident and is expected to be restarted on February 3," he said.

When the malfunction was detected, the reactor was running at 15 percent of its 1,000-megawatt capacity, he said.

Reactor number three is Chernobyl's last operating unit.

Its number four reactor exploded in April 1986, spewing a cloud of radioactive dust over Ukraine, Belarus, Russia and parts of Western Europe.

Another reactor was halted in 1997 after it exhausted its safe lifespan. And a fourth reactor has not been rehabilitated since a fire in 1991.

Ukraine has promised the West it will close Chernobyl in 2000 in return for help in developing alternative power sources. But there has been little progress to date toward that goal, as some officials have blamed the West for failing to provide promised funds.

-- Homer Beanfang (Bats@inbellfry.com), February 02, 2000

Answers

Why do we always have to send Russia money? Putin wants to build up the Russian military--do we have to send "funds" for that too? Why don't they take some "bomb" money and fix their own d___ stuff! (Sorry, I'm kinda in a bad mood today)

-- jeile (tjfarrar@bellsouth.net), February 02, 2000.