
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, May 24, 1990                   TAG: 9005240433
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

NUCLEAR LAB CHIEFS URGE GROUNDING OF MISSILE

Directors of the three U.S. nuclear weapons laboratories said Wednesday that all American nuclear-tipped short-range missiles now routinely carried aboard Air Force strategic bombers on war "alert" should be withdrawn from service and put into storage because the missiles pose unacceptable safety risks.

The scientists' unanimous recommendation that Short-Range Attack Missile-A's be removed from service on "alert" B-1, B-52 and FB-111 bombers came during impromptu congressional testimony on nuclear weapons safety issues and appeared to catch the Department of Energy and the Department of Defense by surprise.

Sen. James Exon, D-Neb., chairman of the Senate Armed Services subcommittee on strategic forces, said after hearing the scientists' testimony that "any reasonable person would have to conclude . . . [that the government] should make changes in the deployment status of that weapon with all haste."

Undersecretary of Energy John Tuck told the committee at a later hearing Wednesday, "I think that's the direction we're going," but any decision should await completion next month of a safety study of the missile.

The directors' safety warnings emerged during a general discussion of government efforts to improve nuclear weapons safety that center on three warheads: the W-79 artillery shell, the W-88 Trident submarine warhead and the Short-Range Attack Missile-A.

Air Force spokesman Dick Cole said in a statement that "the SRAM-A is a safe weapon system," and that after a formal review last summer, "the Joint Chiefs of Staff approved modifications to SRAM-A [handling] procedures" that preserve its safety.

The Energy Department is responsible for design and production of nuclear weapons and shares responsibility for nuclear safety with the Department of Defense.

U.S. officials, who asked to remain anonymous, said the weapons laboratory directors have been concerned for more than a year about what they consider a substantial risk: accidental fires aboard strategic bombers that could cause the missiles to explode and disperse radioactive materials.

The undisclosed new handling procedures were developed after Secretary of Energy James Watkins insisted that the lab directors' concerns be included in a nuclear weapons safety report to President Bush, who was briefed on the SRAM safety problems in January.

by CNB