We can't close Chernobyl, warns Kiev

THE President of Ukraine has warned that the devastated Chernobyl nuclear power plant, site of the world's worst nuclear disaster in 1986, may carry on working well into the next century - clearly undermining an agreement between Ukraine and the G7 industrialised nations to shut it down for ever by 2000.

The announcement by President Leonid Kuchma will cause apprehension and dismay among environmentalists and anger Western governmentsclamouring for Chernobyl's Soviet-designed RBMK reactors to be decommissioned. The latest threat from Kiev, issued late last week, is part of a tense, drawn-out bargaining game in which the former Soviet Republic, faced with economic chaos at home, seeks to extract as much foreign aid as it can in return for helping to meet Western fears over the plant. And it comes as a nuclear reactor right next to the leaking and dangerous sarcophagus covering the highly radioactive remains of the Chernobyl melt-down is due to go back into operation next month.

Ukraine is hoping to put Chernobyl's Reactor 3 back into use, raising the possibility that engineers repairing the crumbling 240ft-high sarcophagus may have to work alongside a functioning reactor. The sarcophagus, which is already in danger of collapse, contains large amounts of highly contaminated wreckage, unused fuel and an estimated 34 tons of lethal radioactive dust.

Almost 12 years after the Chernobyl disaster, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is close to signing a contract for the management of rebuilding the shelter around the radioactive wreckage of Chernobyl. But engineers at Chernobyl have said they are concerned about working with heavy equipment in a highly dangerous and contaminated environment next to the working Reactor 3.

Last year the Ukrainian nuclear safety inspectorate reported failings in management and safety measures at Reactor 3. Another inspection, by the World Association of Nuclear Operators, found equipment flaws and inadequate protection against fire.

In 1995 the G7 struck an agreement with Kiev for the closure of all of Chernobyl by 2000. But the terms were conditional on Western loans for completing two other nuclear reactors elsewhere, replacing the generation capacity lost from Chernobyl.

The EBRD, acting for the G7, has been reluctant to provide the loans, fearing Ukraine will not pay them back. Last week Mr Kuchma hit back, saying it would not be possible to close Chernobyl by 2000 if the group failed to finance the two nuclear plants, at Khmelnitsky and Rivne.