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Nuclear reactor malfunctions in Ukraine, forcing closure

9.38 a.m. ET (1344 GMT) October 2, 1999 KIEV, Ukraine (AP)

 A nuclear reactor malfunctioned at Ukraine's Khmelnytsky power plant, forcing plant operators to halt it for repairs, officials said Saturday.

The only operational reactor at Khmelnytsky was shut down shortly before midnight Friday after a section of its cooling system went out of order, the Nuclear Regulation Administration, Ukraine's nuclear safety body, said.

The repairs were expected to last for a week, plant officials said.

The Khmelnytsky plant is one of Ukraine's five nuclear power facilities which account for more than 40 percent of the former Soviet republic's electricity production.

Three more reactors at Khmelnytsky are under construction.

Minor accidents occur periodically at Ukraine's nuclear power plants, but they usually present no threat of a radiation leak or other danger to the environment.

Ukraine was the site of the world's worst nuclear accident, the 1986 explosion of a reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant which sent a radioactive cloud over much of Europe.

comments@newsdigital.com ) 1999, News America Digital Publishing, Inc. d/b/a Fox News Online. All rights reserved. Fox News is a registered trademark of 20th Century Fox Film Corp. ) 1999 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

-- sandi (sandihere@mailcity.com), October 02, 1999

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TTT

-- sandi (sandihere@mailcity.com), October 02, 1999.

It won't be long now. Just 26 workdays left 'till Thanksgiving. NOTHING of consequence gets done in December. To paraphrase Senator Dodd...'Those cities planning to finish in December are living in Fantasyland.'

Time's up!!

-- K. Stevens (kstevens@ It's ALL going away in January.com), October 02, 1999.