15 



EUHOPg 



of (he nlaatdam wis not tecoaon, but a 

 new idaoomfaip with Russia, it does not 

 ymu to be gowcmed by the Russian con- 

 jQiuiion. Insead. it would like to sign a sep- 

 aiatt noty with Russia, which wouid give 

 ooza ptwui TO (he local govcnunent. 



In phncipie, theic is no reason why Rus- 

 sia should not give mote powen to some of 

 Its tennones than to otheo. The author of 

 the new draft Russian constitution has sug- 

 gested makijig Tataistan a *&eely associ- 

 ated state- (something Mikhail Gorbachev 

 once suggested (brihe Baltic republics). Mr 

 Vdisin says ifaac Tataotan could have a sep- 

 arate status once it signs Russia's "fialetal 

 tiemy-, which lays down the basic division 

 of ptmca between the counny's central and 

 local govcnunens. 



Tatarstan, hosvrver, refuses to have any- 

 thing to do with this treaty. The faieral gov- 

 onment feais that, if it r>< )f^ special exira- 

 oeaty status to Tatantan, then other regions 

 of Rusna will want the same. After much 

 arm-twisting, ifae government has per- 

 suaded 18 of the 20 autonomous lepublia 



Nudear pow«r 



Alarming 



AT 2J7 on the morning of March 24th ta- 

 ..dioacove noble gases and iodine es- 

 caped into the amiasphere from reactor 

 "ff fa g ihree in the nudear power plant at 

 SosnovyBor, 100 kiloineiRs (60 miles) west 

 of Si Foeobirg. It was a small accident. 

 maotisg only two on the scale of seven 

 laed by the Intemaoonal Atomic Energy 

 Agency (iaiaX But it v»as a leminder that 

 nuclear disuux in the former Soviet Union 

 is distressingly likely. 



Tlie acddent happened when contami- 

 nated steam escaped £pom one of the 1.490 

 fuel channels irt the reactor^ cxjre. ei*er be- 

 cause (he c h a nne l rtiptured. or, more likely, 

 beOBse a seal oo the channel gave way. 

 Even though the level of radioactivity in the 

 tmbine hall iok to 60 micro-roentgen an 

 hour, ihree times itinonnal level, according 

 ID the mayor of Scoiovy Bor, there was 

 never any danger ofa raeh-down like that at 

 Oionobyi The reactor^ safety systems 

 waked as designed and (]uickly quenched 

 ifie midear reaoioa. 



Fwill its hami^nes. the incident il- 

 hisnairs the afflicaoia bedevilling the nu- 

 clear indusoy. Last January a group of 

 Swedish safcry i ns pe uu t s vuiied Sosnovy 

 Bor and recommended a raft of improve- 

 ineno. Less ttian a month later the number 

 of Russian safety mspeetots was halved, be- 

 cause of lack of money. Acoonling to Vladi- 

 mir Sukhomehkin of the Kurchaiov Nu- 

 clear Research Insstute in Moscow, the fuel 

 thannd at Sooiovy Bor failed because of 



Here's to lov migui y 



and regions in Russia to initial its treaty. But 

 the oeaty still has to be ratified by the local 

 ■ parliaments in tfwse areas. If giving special 

 stanis to ihe Tatars encouraged tJie 18 othc 

 areas to back out, that would cause an evot 

 bigger bust-up than simply allowing 

 Tataistan to take Its leave. 



poor manuficture or lesnng. 



A similar acddent could have ocoined 

 almost anywhere aotss the former Soviet 

 Umocu Poor manufacturing was to blame 

 for m of the U9 urudieduled stoppage at 

 nuclear-power reactors in I99a Western oc- 



fAcddefits will hapM?^ ^ 



1= — — ^^ 



ac0nnk«waD 



-S^£^=r*. 



-, H^irwCfcMM) ^ 4. railtt-. .(nIM -1, 



4S — 270 -.nisEaav^^ 



pots say that, although nudor tedtniciaos 

 n«ve plenty of skill, safety standards are 



h gnarai d. Like every other part of Russian 

 offiaaldom, the midear i ns pe uuiatc 

 (calledGosatomnadior) is in diaos and 

 strapped for cash. In a counny where mak- 

 J°8 '^ ^^^ty has always come before saiiay, 

 "einspectorate has never been properly in- 

 deperident of the energy minisizy. 



• If it were merely a m a net u f ttaining and 

 otgamsanon, putting nuclear power tight 

 ooukl proceed apace. The otxible is that So- 

 viet-built leaaoo are as flawed aithe orga- 

 nisation that nms them. Since the Chemo- 

 byl madent in 1986, lots of efibn has gone 

 Wwaids correcting the faults that led to the 

 doaster. Even so the teaoon like that at 

 Sosnovy Bor-called umk reaaors-«- 

 mam unaaepcaUe by western standards 

 becauseoftheirftindamentaldoign. meant 

 originally for making weapons-grade plutn- 

 mum rather than etaaricity. Of the five nu- 

 dear incidents that have taken place since 

 1991 (see table), all but one have taken place 

 "onde UMK reactors. Moreover, none of 

 *em IS sheathed in the huge CDnnete 

 domes that oniain radioactive material if 

 there IS an aeddem. 



- Ideally, these reactors (like the oldest So- 

 yiet-built machines, the vviii-230 ptasur- 

 neri-waterieaaots. which were condemnai 

 m a tepon by the ia£a ather this year) 

 would be shut down for good rather than 

 patched up. Western goveniraems have 

 been uigmg the Russians to do jmt that. Yet 

 then-Soviet Union needs midear pows 



- Since the Cbenobyl dmsB. 60 mt- 

 '''"■po'ww pn>ieos of various kinds (both 

 new reacsoo and eatnsiops of oid ones) 

 have bem abandoned. inwWauhe k»i of 

 a total of I6ft000 m tgawaus of gmetatittg 

 opaory. IfaU UMKand vvia.-230 reactors 

 WTO closed, that would diminaie ne»ty 

 half of the remaining nudear-power gener- 

 King capwity and 6X of the fbrtoer Soviet 

 Union's dennaty. fa Artnona. which is 



^ering an energy bkxkade by Aserbaijan. 

 me atomic-energy minister wants to reopoi 

 me most dangevDus of ail Soviet-built 



piaoB. a vvEK-a3o in an eattfaauake zone fit 

 w» closed in 1989). 



• Recognising tlm it will ake time to re- 

 place thew reaano with safer ones, western 

 counmes are ttying to do what they can to 

 prevent disasieis. Rusiaii tedmicians are 

 vBiang the West to witness finKhaad the 

 «>daids of western midear opesaiors. An 

 mtemaoooal tam fiom Eatope and Can- 

 ada wiU soon make a smdy of the ««» k re- 

 actors that will be similar to the iaia's study 

 of the wia-ijo reacats. Each wnt-ajo le- 

 "OTwJl cost JSOOm to put ngbL Refitting 

 reactors tiuoughout the fbrnw axnmunist 

 counmes couW COR tTJbillion. on one esti- 

 mate. Given the scale of the problem, die 

 •ens of millions of dollars available to car- 

 rent western effotts are meagre mdeeil. 



**■ teD«>0«l«T MAAOi ttTH i«va 



