Date: Mon, 22 Jan 1996 03:55:53 -0500
Subject: HEADLINES 15-16 January 1996

      16 Jan 1996 (Reuter) - Two people suffered minor burns
when a transformer exploded and burned at a nuclear power
plant in central France, but there was no release of
radioactivity, the state-owned EDF electric utility said.

      16 Jan 1996 (Reuter) - Ukraine's nuclear power authority
said the industry was so short of cash it could not afford
repairs or start decommissioning the stricken Chernobyl plant
without additional funds. But industry officials pledged to
maintain required safety levels at the country's five nuclear
power stations and even increase power output this year.

      16 Jan. 1996 (UPI) - Taipei City Mayor Chen Shui-pien
announced plans to hold a plebiscite regarding the island's
fourth nuclear power plant on the same day as the March 23
presidential election.

      16 Jan 1996 (UPI) - The planned excavation of
radioactive tuna remains buried 42 years ago failed after
diggers were unable to find the bones. The fish and 23 crewmen
of "Lucky Dragon No. 5" were exposed to the fallout from a
hydrogen bomb testing conducted by the United States at Bikini
Atoll in the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean.

      15 Jan 1996 (Reuter) - Iraq has acquired many of the
technologies needed to produce deliverable nuclear weapons,
and vigilance is needed to prevent any clandestine import of
weapons-usable materials, the IAEA said.