ARMENIA

In the Ist week of July, Armenians cheered as their government reopened a controversial nuclear power station 20 miles west of the earthquake-prone capital Yerevan. Officials are optimistic that the reactor, located at Medzamor, will be working at its optimum capacity by September, meeting 30 per cent of Armenia's energy requirements and giving users 12 hours of power a day.

Armenia has spent millions of dollars in modernising the Medzamor reactor. The plant, built in 1976, had managed to escape damage despite a massive earthquake in the region in 1988 which killed about 25,000 people. However, it was shut down in 1989 after thousands took to the streets to demand its closure.

The energy crisis in the country had been compounded by a blockade imposed by Armenia's neighbours because of its conflict with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh. Starved of power, Armenia's factories ground to a halt and for 3 icy winters the people had to make do with power for a mere 1 hour a day. The forests paid the price for this unprecedented crisis: an estimated I million trees were felled for firewood, leaving a bald landscape to face the scorching Caucasian summer.