GABCIKOVO DAM TRIAL DUE TO START NEXT FEBRUARY [July26]: 
    Hungary and Slovakia's long-standing dispute over a dam on the Danube 
    could be settled next spring with a ruling by the International Court of
    Justice in the Hague. The court has set the start of the verbal stage
    of a trial related to the controversial Gabcikovo hydropower plant for
    February 17, 1997. The verbal hearing is likely to take three to five
    weeks and the verdict should come a few weeks later, said Gyorgy
    Szenasi, head of the international legal division at the Foreign
    Ministry Thursday. He said the court will pass a ruling of principle,
    and the two sides will have to reach an agreement on the
    implementation of the verdict within six months. Szenasi represents
    the Hungarian government in the legal suit. Hungary and Slovakia asked
    the international court in May, 1993 to pass a ruling on their dispute
    related to the Danube dam. The court will have to weigh four
    questions: 1.) Whether was it legal on the part of Sloakia to
    unilaterally build a so-called C variant dam; 2.) whether it was legal
    for Slovakia to divert the water of the Danube; 3.) whether the 1977
    Hungarian Czechoslovak treaty on the joint investment ceased to be in
    force after Hungary declared it terminated; and 4.) whether Hungary
    was legally justified in suspending and stopping construction work at
    Nagymaros in 1989. Szenasi said experts representing Hungary are
    prepared for the verbal stage of the trial, and are optimistic
    regarding Hungary's position as the trial approaches. (MH pp.1&5; TV1)
-
THE HUNGARY REPORT
    Copyright (c) 1996
No. 2.6, July 27, 1996

TWO ACCIDENTS AT UKRAINIAN NUCLEAR PLANT KILL WORKER, 
RELEASE RADIATION.
Two accidents at the Khmelnytsky nuclear power plant on 25 July killed
an employee and leaked radiation inside the station, Western and
Ukrainian agencies reported the same day. The incidents occurred as the
station's only working reactor was being tested for a planned restart
since it was shut down on 20 April for maintenance. One employee
sustained fatal injuries and burns when a steam pipe burst during the
testing. Several hours later, radioactive water leaked into a nitrogen
storage area after workers failed to make a safety check. Plant managers
said radioactive contamination was limited to inside the plant and that
the leaks measured level three on the IAEA's seven-level scale for
nuclear accidents. -- Chrystyna Lapychak

UKRAINE OPENS INSTALLATION TO DISMANTLE SS-19s. Ukraine will open a
facility on 26 July to dismantle and "neutralize" the 130 SS-19
intermediate-range ballistic missiles left on its territory by the
collapse of the Soviet Union, ITAR-TASS reported on 25 July. The
facility is located at the Yuzhmash plant in Dnepropetrovsk where the
Soviet giant SS-18 missile was built. Sources in the Ukrainian Defense
Ministry told the agency that the facility would be able to process four
missiles per month. The U.S. provided financial support for the project.
-- Doug Clarke

OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 144, Part II, 26 July 1996