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

DATE: SATURDAY, November 13, 1993                   TAG: 9311130061
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LONDON                                LENGTH: Short

NATIONS OK PERMANENT BAN ON NUCLEAR DUMPING

The United States and 36 other nations voted Friday to permanently bar the dumping of nuclear waste at sea, but four major atomic powers abstained, and it was unclear if they would observe the ban.

The ban covers the 71 countries that signed the 1972 London Convention, which regulates the dumping of nuclear waste and other substances in the ocean, and each has 100 days to opt out.

Despite the uncertainty, Clifton Curtis, an adviser to the environmental group Greenpeace International, called the vote "a major step forward by the world community in making a commitment to protect the world's seas."

The ban replaces a voluntary moratorium on dumping low-level nuclear waste that has been in effect since 1983. The delegates also decided that within 25 years, a study will be made to review radioactive waste dumping at sea.

Japan and Ukraine joined the United States in adopting the ban, and there were no votes against it. Belgium and the four other nuclear powers - Britain, France, Russia and China - abstained.

by CNB