New shelter over Chernobyl nuclear reactor to be built in 2015.

KIEV, December 13 (Itar-Tass) -- A new shelter over the fourth power
unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant will be commissioned in 2015,
Ukrainian Minister of Emergency Situations Viktor Baloga said during a
visit to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant with Administrator of the U.N.
Development Programme Helen Clark on Sunday.
"I am convinced that all construction issues will be settled and a new
sarcophagus will be built in 2015," Baloga said.
Ukraine launched the construction of a basement for a new cover under
the destroyed Chernobyl fourth power unit on September 23.
The sarcophagus built over this power unit in 1986 has been under
transformation in an ecologically friendly system since 1992. Under the
project a new arch-shaped shelter 108 meters high and 150 meters long will
be built over the current sarcophagus. The facility will be equipped with
modern radiation security control systems. The new Chernobyl shelter will
have 100 years of service life.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Ministry of Emergency Situations is planning
to provide tourist tours in the Chernobyl nuclear disaster zone starting
from 2011, the minister said.
"We have done a serious amount of work in the Ministry of Emergency
Situations and the ministry services will report about it at a press
conference on December 21 in order to make such tours constant starting
from January 2011," Baloga said. "The door should be opened in the
Chernobyl zone for people to see the current situation for themselves," he
noted.
Current tours in the Chernobyl zone are arranged mainly for foreign
tourists from several private companies.

.Russian crewmen of tuna boat go on hunger strike in Vietnam.

VLADIVOSTOK, December 13 (Itar-Tass) -- The Russian crewmen of the
tuna boat Phu Hai-1 went on a hunger strike at the Vietnamese port Vung
Tau on Monday. The wage arrears for them exceeded 143,000 dollars for 18
months.
The Russian captain stated that he, the chief mechanic and the cook
went on a hunger strike. The tuna boat crew is made up of six Russian
citizens. The tuna boat Phu Hai-1 is operated by Antel Investment Ltd,
which Russian citizens own. Captain Alexander Onufriyenko stated that the
protest action will continue "until a full conflict settlement." The
captain informed the Vietnamese immigration authorities and the Russian
Consulate in the country about the hunger strike.

.Dozens of flights delayed in Vladivostok over cyclone aftermath.

VLADIVOSTOK, December 13 (Itar-Tass) -- Dozens of flights are still
delayed at the Vladivostok airport over the cyclone aftermath. Some 24
arrivals and departures, including five flights scheduled back on December
11, are delayed, the airport flight controlling service told Itar-Tass.
These are arrival flights from Seoul, Magadan and Krasnodar and departure
flights to Seoul and Novosibirsk. The flight schedule is expected to get
back to normal by Monday evening.
The airport has been closed for about two days. The cyclone, which was
raging overnight to Saturday, made the airport authorities close it. The
cyclone brought rains and sleet that made the runway and all roads in
southern Primorsky Territory slippery. More than 40 flights were delayed.
More than 2,000 passengers crowded at the airport. Only in the evening on
December 12 the airport resumed its operation.
The cyclone also affected the traffic in southern Primorsky Territory.
The bus traffic between Vladivostok and the Emar Bay was halted over a
slippery road on the highland pass. A settlement and the national children'
s center Ocean are situated in the Emar Bay.

.Mongolia PM to discuss development of cooperation in Moscow.

ULAN-BATOR, December 13 (Itar-Tass) -- Mongolian Prime Minister
Sukhbaatar Batbold will arrive in Moscow on Monday for a four-day official
visit to discuss investment cooperation and the prospects for the
bilateral cooperation in trade, economy and infrastructure.
Batbold will have negotiations with his Russian counterpart Vladimir
Putin, the Mongolian news agency Montsame reported. He will also meet with
Federation Council Speaker Sergei Mironov, State Duma Speaker and Chairman
of the United Russia Supreme Council Boris Gryzlov and the Russian
co-chairman of the Russian-Mongolian intergovernmental commission Igor
Levitin.
The sides will sign several documents, including an agreement on the
essential terms to establish the Dornod uranium joint venture and a plan
for cooperation between the regions and the border districts of the
countries. Batbold will also participate in a Mongolian-Russian business
forum and will meet with Mongolian citizens, who work and study in Moscow.
"The visit of the Mongolian prime minister is seeking to build up
traditional and good neighborly relations, heighten trust and mutual
understanding, step up friendly ties established with the Russian
leadership and to boost sweepingly strategic partnership and economic
cooperation, the Mongolian news agency Montsame reported.
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