Chernobyl powers down permanently

CHERNOBYL, Ukraine (CNN) -- The Chernobyl nuclear power station in Ukraine has been officially closed down -- 14 years after the plant exploded and sent a cloud of radioactive dust over Europe.

The country's president, Leonid Kuchma, gave the order to shut down the plant permanently, saying the world would now be a safer place.

More than 4,000 Ukrainians who took part in the hasty clean-up effort since the 1986 disaster have died and 70,000 were disabled by radiation, according to government figures.

About 3.4 million of Ukraine's 50 million people, including some 1.26 million children, are also considered to have been affected by Chernobyl.

VIDEO CNN's Jill Dougherty reports on the shut down of the plant Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) CNN's Jill Dougherty: Workers want jobs, not unemployment cheques Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) Go inside the damaged structure on a tour showing rubble, exposed wiring and dripping water Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)     AUDIO Listen as CNN's Jill Dougherty describes the shutdown Wav/ aiff 24 sec 253 kb AIFF or WAV sound     MESSAGE BOARD Environmental issues

Kuchma issued the instruction during a televised ceremony in the capital, Kiev, over a video link-up with the plant 135 kilometres (84 miles) away.

Speaking at the Ukraina Palace, where the ceremony took place, Kuchma said the former Soviet republic had taken a historic step.

"This decision came from our experience of suffering," he said. "We understand that Chernobyl is a danger for all of humanity and we forsake a part of our national interests for the sake of global safety."

Engineers then pressed the plant's closedown button for the last time, lowering control rods into Chernobyl's last functioning reactor.

Chernobyl shift chief Oleksandr Yelchishchev turned the black AZ switch, activating the automatic safety system at 1.16 p.m. (1116 GMT).

Within seconds, a dial showed the reactor's output dropping to zero. The shutdown went to plan, the plant reported.

The simple procedure closed a facility that has become synonymous with nuclear fears. It was in 1986 that a fire engulfed reactor number four in the same building and triggered the world's worst nuclear disaster.

U.S. Energy Secretary Bill Ruchardson, who attended the closing ceremony, told CNN: "It is a historic day because it signals the end of Chernobyl and that Ukraine is moving away from its Soviet past.

"The West and the U.S. should look at the Ukraine and say 'they kept their word' and now we have to return the favour and help them."

He said this assistance would come by helping to clean up the site, by creating alternative employment, and by developing new sources of energy in the Ukraine, using its gas and oil resources.

CNN's Moscow bureau chief Jill Dougherty said: "The shutdown is just the beginning of a complex and dangerous process of closing it forever -- something that scientists say could take 100 years."

She added that the closure is welcome news for the outside world, but to the residents of the nearby town of Slauvitch, almost all of whom work at Chernobyl, "the closure is a tragedy."

About 6,000 people will lose their jobs, although some staff will continue working at the plant.

Some people at the site said Chernobyl was safer than many Russian nuclear power stations and it was only being closed on political grounds.

Ukraine plans to construct a new encasement for the mammoth concrete and steel sarcophagus covering the ruined reactor number four.

There is no decision yet on how to treat the tonnes of radioactive dust and nuclear fuel inside, and work on making the structure environmentally safe will take decades.

It will also take years to unload nuclear fuel from the three other Chernobyl reactors.

The European Commission has approved a $585 million loan to help Ukraine build two new reactors to replace the electricity produced at Chernobyl, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development will provide $215 million.

But environmental group Greenpeace urged Ukraine to honour the memory of Chernobyl victims by looking for alternative sources of energy.

CNN's Moscow bureau chief Jill Dougherty, the Associated Press & Reuters contributed to this report.

Chernobyl limps towards shutdown
December 14, 2000
Chernobyl victims demand 'dues'
December 4, 2000
Chernobyl: An unthinkable disaster
June 5, 2000

Chernobyl - The Accident and Progress Since 1986
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
Ukraine Parliament

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