END OF THE LINE FOR CHERNOBYL?

Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma promised today that the Chernobyl nuclear power plant would be closed by 2000. Representatives from the 15-nation European Union and G-7 countries visiting Kiev called the decision "a radical change in Ukrainian policy" given the former Soviet country's grave economic difficulties. Previously, Kiev had refused to consider closing the plant, most of which has been enclosed in an unstable, radioactive sarcophagus since the 1986 disaster.