April 20, 2000

George Vecsey Sports of The Times column discusses success of thoroughbred race horse trainser Leah Gyarmati; photo (M)

Many young Puerto Rican-born architects and designers who study and work on United States mainland or abroad are giving up jobs with prestigious firms to work on island; are helped by strong economy; move home gives some opportunity to build on island's strong Modernist tradition; photos (M)

British Nuclear Fuels, government-owned company that operates Sellafield nuclear power complex in England's northwestern coast, is under pressure to abandon its disputed fuel reprocessing business and focus its attention on disposing of waste and cleaning up nuclear sites; workers at plant were found to have falsified documents involving fuel rods that were in transit to Japan; it was first shipment of such fuel rods to Japan, crucial customer of company; discovery coincided with efforts by company to secure government approval of plutonium processing at complex designed to turn out 'mixed oxide' fuel--blend of uranium and plutonium; John Storer, engineer at plant, says timing was disaster; things turned out far worse than Storer imagined, causing equivalent of commercial meltdown at complex, which has been cauldron of environmental, commercial and social tension ever since opening of first unit; graph; photos (M)

William L Hamilton reports on Milan furniture fair, world's largest contemporary design exhibition; photos (M)

Michiko Kakutani reviews book Ravelstein by Saul Bellow; photos (M)