As many as fifteen percent of the 5,000 welds joining pipes used in the reactors' auxiliary plumbing system, containment dome and spent-fuel cooling system are known to be flawed. According to Vladimir Cervera, the senior engineer responsible for overseeing quality control at the Juragua reactor, X-rays showed welded pipe joints weakened by air pockets, bad soldering and heat damage. Bear in mind that if a single weld in a U.S. reactor were suspected of being defective, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission would suspend its operations. Soviet advisors reportedly told Cuban officials they could not guarantee that valves installed in the first reactor's cooling system would function under certain conditions. In tropical areas, such machinery must be stored in climate-controlled facilities to avoid serious corrosion and other damage.
Construction supporting primary reactor components contains numerous structural defects.
The first reactor's dome would not be able to contain overpressures associated with meltdown conditions. Worse yet, such fallout would not be confined to Cuba. According to estimates by U.S. government agencies, the casualties associated with such a widespread dissemination of lethal radiation could be as high as 50-80 million Americans . The Clinton Administration should be doing everything in its power to prevent these Cuban Chernobyls from ever coming on-line. The Center has learned, however, that Russian interlocutors from MinAtom have contemptuously rebuffed U.S. inquiries made pursuant to the Libertad Act.