UKRAINE SAYS NUCLEAR REACTORS READY FOR Y2K. Ukraine's energy producer Enerhoatom on 29 December stated that all 14 reactors of Ukraine's five nuclear power plants will not be affected by the millennium computer bug, Interfax reported. Enerhoatom head Mykola Dudchenko said 10 reactors are now in operation and will not be stopped before the New Year. Meanwhile, Enerhoatom production manager Viktor Stovbun said the same day that the only operational reactor at the Chornobyl plant could be turned off in 2000. Ukraine may not be able to finance the reactor's repair and maintenance costs. JM

UKRAINIAN PREMIER SUBMITS FIRST CABINET CANDIDATES FOR APPROVAL. Viktor Yushchenko, who was confirmed as Ukrainian prime minister by parliament last week, has submitted "key" cabinet candidates to President Leonid Kuchma for approval, Interfax reported on 29 December. Yushchenko said Defense Minister Oleksandr Kuzmuk will remain in his post. Yushchenko added that he is also satisfied with the former cabinet's Transportation Minister Leonid Kostyuchenko and Social Policy Minister Ivan Sakhan. JM

UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT ORDERS FASTER PRIVATIZATION. Kuchma on 29 December signed a decree aimed at speeding up Ukraine's privatization process, Interfax reported. According to presidential spokesman Oleksandr Martynenko, the decree defines the "main directions for privatization in 2000-2002." The decree stipulates that 2,200 economic entities are to be privatized in 2000, compared with 435 this year. The state budget is expected to receive $3 billion in privatization revenues over the next three years. Martynenko noted that the decree foresees the privatization of enterprises that "are of strategic importance for the state's economy and security or are monopolies on the domestic market." JM