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- KIEV (Reuters) - Engineers
at Ukraine's Rivne nuclear power plant have prevented an attempt by a worker
to shut down one of the station's reactors, the plant spokeswoman said
on Monday.
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- Nervousness remains high over the safety of Soviet-made
reactors at Ukrainian plants since Chernobyl station was the site of the
world's worst civilian nuclear disaster in 1986. There have been several
security incidents in recent months.
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- Viktoria Leonova told Reuters by telephone from Rivne,
320 km (190 miles) west of the capital Kiev, that the worker had declined
to explain his actions and was being examined by doctors. Security has
been tightened at the plant.
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- She said the worker had tried to switch off reactor number
two on Friday by opening a safety valve in the cooling system.
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- "This might have stopped the reactor, but urgent
measures taken by duty engineers prevented this and the reactor is working
as usual," Leonova said.
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- She said the man, who was not identified, had declined
to explain his actions.
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- "Doctors are examining him," she added.
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- In December, a man tried to ram his car into the gates
of a power station in southern Ukraine but guards shot and wounded him.
He was later reported to have committed suicide in hospital.
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- Officials were forced to shut down a reactor at the same
plant later in December after a worker stole the cable which controlled
the turbine.
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