The 700-km long border between the two countries is not clearly demarcated in many places. Operators at the Zaporizhska power plant, one of the largest in Europe, have restarted a reactor shut down yesterday because of a malfunctioning control rod. A plant spokeswoman told journalists that one of the 61 rods regulating chain reactions in the reactor core was descending into the core more slowly than regulations permit. She said operators fixed the malfunction by repeatedly dropping the rod down and pulling it back until it was moving at normal speed. Zaporizhska's output has decreased owing to recent minor incidents that forced five reactor to shut down.
Officials say none of the problems has posed any danger within or outside the plant.
Pillaux was speaking after an EBRD meeting in London yesterday, which was attended by Polish Deputy Prime Minister Marek Belka and Polish National Bank President Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz. Zieleniec said only full membership in NATO is acceptable to Prague but added he does not believe NATO is negotiating any secret deals with Moscow. NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana told Vaclav Klaus yesterday in Brussels that the Czech Republic should engage in a more active dialogue with Russia. Klaus said at a press conference later that the NATO leadership does not want candidate countries to think that the alliance's talks with Russia are taking place without those countries' participation. Daniel Tarschys says Slovakia should adopt a bill on the language rights of ethnic minorities.