Monday December 25 9:36 AM ET
Chernobyl Plant To Be Built Soon 

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) - A plant to process liquid radioactive waste from
the Chernobyl nuclear power complex will be built by the end of 2001,
officials said Monday.

Construction of the processing plant began at Chernobyl about six
months ago and is expected to be ready for operation in December 2001,
said Valeriy Hovorov, a Chernobyl spokesman.

The plant will treat the water that was used in Chernobyl reactors and
has been partially decontaminated and stored in tanks. At the new
plant, the liquid waste will be solidified and placed in containers
for storage, the Chernobyl press office said.

The $16 million plant, funded by the European Bank for Reconstruction
and Development, will employ about 100 people.

Chernobyl was the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster in
1986. The plant was shut down for good, under intense international
pressure, on Dec. 15.

Hovorov said that officials planned to raise funds to build another
facility that will process and store solid nuclear waste from
Chernobyl. Construction of that plant, worth $37.53 million, could
begin as early as March.

The complex will include a facility that will remove nuclear wastes
from the Chernobyl plant and a plant that will sort, compress, burn
and cement the waste in preparation for storage outside Chernobyl.

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