Electrical glitch shuts off reactors

  • 11/12/1999

A failure in its crumbling electric grid forced Russia to shut down several nuclear reactors over the weekend, including those at a gargantuan top-secret fuel-reprocessing plant, officials said on Monday.Officials assured the public there was no danger, but the head of the huge, secret Mayak reprocessing plant, in the remote Ural mountains, said only his staff's "near-military" vigilance, had prevented "serious trouble."