Soviet Union May Help Libyans Build a Nuclear Power Station

The Soviet ambassador to Libya says that the Soviet Union may build a nuclear power station in that North African nation.

Ambassador Oleg G. Peresypkin said Saturday during a television interview in Libya, monitored in London, that the Soviet Union is committed to working toward nuclear “industrialization . . . because we believe that the use of oil or natural gas to generate electricity is coming to an end.”

“I can say that even in economic cooperation with Libya, we have an idea to cooperate in building a nuclear power station that will help the Libyan people to economize in the production of the oil that you have,” Peresypkin said, giving no details.

Asked during the interview about the April 26 accident at the Soviet Union’s Chernobyl nuclear reactor, which killed at least two people, the ambassador said that at any nuclear power plant, “there is bound to be a technical incident.”

The Soviet Union was to have provided two nuclear reactors for a plant to be built in Libya by the Belgian firm Belgonucleaire, but the project was shelved in 1984 after objections were raised, including some by the United States.