LITHUANIA: IGNALINA NUCLEAR REACTOR TO CLOSE скачать в хорошем качестве

LITHUANIA: IGNALINA NUCLEAR REACTOR TO CLOSE

(5 Nov 1999) Russian/Nat The Lithuanian Parliament took the first step to starting membership talks with the European Union by agreeing to close the first of two Chernobyl-style reactors at the Ignalina nuclear power plant by 2005. But the price to enter the European Union may be too high for the former Soviet republic. Lithuania relies on Ignalina as a primary source of power and employment for its citizens. The spectre of Chernobyl will continue to haunt Europe for centuries to come. But the European Union is taking steps to prohibit another nuclear disaster of that character. The E-U is requiring Lithuania to close its Chernobyl-type Ignalina nuclear power plant before it will consider the Baltic country eligible for membership into the union. The European Union has insisted that Lithuania close the first of two reactors at the Ignalina plant before starting membership talks. Lithuania has to make a decision on the fate of the second reactor before 2004. The Ignalina is located in the small town of Visaginas, 160 kilometres northeast from Vilnius. Ignalina was built in the 1970s by specialists from Russia, Belarus and the Ukraine. Over 90 percent of the 5-thousand workers are non-ethnic Lithuanians, but they consider Lithuania as their home. The plant provides 80 percent of electric power needed for the country. Closing Ignalina means that Lithuania will have to create a new national energy system that could put the country not in the European Union, but in a financial crisis. Gennady Negrivoda started at Ignalina as an ordinary worker 20 years ago, now he is chief engineer. Negrivoda thinks that the main problem will be financing the closing, estimated at about 40 (b) billion litas (10 (b) billion U-S dollars). Around 10 (b) billion litas (2.5 (b) billion U-S dollars) would be needed to build a modern nuclear reactor to replace Ignalina. SOUNDBITE: (Russian) "The financing of this closing will probably continue for thirty to forty years. It's very difficult to say at the moment how this financing would be organised in forty years. It must be a subject to discuss with European Union." SUPER CAPTION: Gennady Negrivoda, chief engineer Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant The decision to close Ignalina met with opposition from many Lithuanian politicians, who said that closing Ignalina demands financial resources the country doesn't have. But Lithuania's President Valdas Adamkus, a supporter of the closing, said prolonging the decision would only mean promoting conflict with the European Commission. SOUNDBITE: (English) "I believe that this is the very logical, very reasonable decision which has been made and at the same time we fulfill our commitment to the European Union requirements." SUPER CAPTION: Lithuanian President, Valdas Adamkus According to him, Ignalina's closing is an absolutely reasonable step. He has called for a plan to build an alternative energy system to replace the Soviet nuclear power plant. This plan, which should be ready by April 1, 2000, would propose the construction of a modern nuclear reactor near Ignalina, which will promise to be safer than its Chernobyl-style predecessor. SOUNDBITE: (English) "Even as an environmentalist and an ecologist I believe that sources which the civilised community should utilise using the most modern technology, applying the most modern management techniques since throughout the world the latest nuclear power plants have proven that they are reliable and safe." SUPER CAPTION: Lithuanian President, Valdas Adamkus SOUNDBITE: (Russian) Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...