News In Brief
| Washington
Soviet A-reactor plant held up in construction
Completion of a key Soviet nuclear reactor plant in southern European Russia is now in doubt because of faulty planning and erroneous geological surveys. Sources said the $4 billion project, near the southern Russian town of Volgodonsk, had damaged foundations because it was built at the edge of a huge man-made lake. It has been under construction for 10 years.
There was no indication that any solution had been found. Upon completion, the plant was to become the main Soviet producer of nuclear reactors, with the capacity to produce eight 1,000-megawatt units annually.
