FEATURE - Lithuania's nuclear workers fret for future
Date: 14-May-02
Country: LITHUANIA
Author: Burton Frierson
Like many of the 4,600 people who make a living at the facility, he's concerned about how his small family will get by if he loses his job or he has to move in search of work.
Sometimes, he says, fretting about the future can be an on-the-job distraction. "You have to think about the work, not about the problems, but it's difficult now."
Monakhov had better keep his concentration.
He's a nuclear safety engineer responsible for keeping track of atomic fuel at Lithuania's Soviet-era Ignalina nuclear power plant, which may be shut down completely by the end of this decade if the European Union gets its way.
Brussels considers Ignalina a potential nuclear hazard because its two reactors are similar in design to those that powered Ukraine's disastrous Chernobyl plant - only bigger.
It has got Lithuania to commit to switch off the first unit by 2005, but the two sides are deadlocked over the EU's demand that the second unit be shut down by 2009 and the 2.4 billion euros ($2.2 billion) Vilnius says decommissioning the plant will cost.
Ignalina, which provides most of Lithuania's electricity, is now the biggest obstacle to this tiny Baltic nation's bid to conclude entry talks this year to be in a bigger EU by 2004.
Lithuanian officials say it might take until December to resolve the Ignalina talks, but they are aiming for a deal by the end of June.
CONTROVERSIAL CLOSURE
Closure has been surprisingly controversial for this state of just 3.5 million people. Lithuanians launched daring protests against Soviet plans to build a third and fourth reactor in the wake of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.
But these days, Lithuanians are more concerned about having an independent energy supply, though experts say they have more than enough capacity even without Ignalina, and the dispute has damaged sentiment on EU membership in opinion polls.
The Lithuanian authorities' stubbornness over the second reactor baffles some, as it was built to run only to 2017 and the EU has offered 70 million euros a year in funding from 2004-2006.
In the early 1990s, concerns hit home amid a series of minor mishaps at Ignalina, a bomb threat and the theft of a nuclear fuel container, but with international help, tens of thousands of dollars were poured into improving safety and security.
Now, at the back of everyone's minds is the thought that a worried workforce, preoccupied with looming unemployment, might not be the safest.
"People in positions of responsibility at a nuclear power plant have to have guarantees about their future," said Kazys Zilys, deputy head of Lithuania's nuclear regulatory body.
"Otherwise, we don't think a nuclear power plant can be operated safely."
The government is working on draft legislation to cover compensation for Ignalina's employees. If the closure of the first unit goes ahead by 2005, up to 900 people stand to lose their jobs.
More job cuts would follow and, upon final closure of the second unit, only about 1,500 staff would stay on for post-shutdown work.
Most families in Visaginas - a town of 30,000 built in the Lithuanian wilderness to house Ignalina staff - have at least one person working at the plant. Monakhov says his chances of working after shutdown are good, but he's not sure what life will be like in the town after the plant closes.
"After the closure, nobody knows what will happen with the town, and I don't want to live in a dead town," he said.
The EU is sponsoring a host of projects to help the town's well-educated community of nuclear scientists and engineers get a headstart in the post-shutdown job search.
Michael Graham, head of the EU delegation in Vilnius, says he's upbeat, given that the EU has dealt with industrial dislocations involving tens of thousands of people in the past.
TIME SLIPPING AWAY
Work in progress at the plant is being funded by international donors who pledged over 200 million euros to decommission unit one.
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