CHERNOBYL IS TURNED OFF, BUT NOT FORGOTTEN

Another bit of good news from the former U.S.S.R. comes from the Ukraine, where President Leonid Kuchma last week turned off the last nuclear reactor at Chernobyl -- a name that has become synonymous with ineptitude and the devastation that improperly managed nuclear reactors can cause.

Few can forget the explosion of the No. 4 reactor in 1986 that is responsible for the deaths of more than 4,000 cleanup workers and more than 70,000 disabled inhabitants of the Ukraine -- all part of an estimated 3.4 million people who have been affected in some way.

On the plus side, Ukrainian officials have finally seen the wisdom of shutting down nuclear reactors that never had adequate safeguards.

On the minus side is the use of Chernobyl as a condemnation of nuclear power in general.

Never mind that most of Europe's electricity safely comes from nuclear plants. And it is certainly unfortunate that the slowdown in development of new generating capacity in this country -- nuclear included -- is beginning to be felt in power-pinched California.