Subject: headlines March 12
 
Date: Thu, 14 Mar 1996 07:42:45 -0500
 
     March 12, 1996 (Reuter) - Mongolia is opposed to Chinese
nuclear tests and wants a halt to the explosions for fear they
put Mongolians at risk of radiation poisoning, President
Punsalmaagiin Ochirbat told Reuters. Mongolia declared itself
a nuclear-weapons-free zone in 1992 but remained under
constant threat of nuclear pollution from more than 500
nuclear explosions  conducted by China and the former Soviet
Union over the last 50 years, Ochirbat said. After a Chinese
test in mid-1995, radiation levels rose in some parts of
Mongolia's southern Gobi region, he added.  


     March 12, 1996 (Reuter) - Foreign Minister Assef Ahmad
Ali vowed that Pakistan would make a tit-for-tat response if
India conducted its second nuclear test. Ali's statement was
much stronger than one by Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto two
days ago that Pakistan had no plans to conduct a nuclear test
and that latest reports suggested India too was not in a hurry
to conduct one.


     March 12, 1996 (Reuter) - The world's first advanced
boiling water reactor (ABWR) resumed test operations in Japan
on Tuesday after being shut down last month due to a glitch in
its power system. The 13.5 million kilowatt reactor on the
northern Sea of Japan coast was shut down manually on February
23 after power trouble caused a pump to stop. No radioactivity
was detected around the reactor, which was shut for the first
time since trial operations started on January 29.


     March 12, 1996 (UPI) -- Japan Prime Minister Ryutaro
Hashimoto urged Cabinet  ministers Tuesday to seek public
support for Japan's beleagured nuclear energy program. More
than 70 percent of Japanese answering a recent survey in the
mass circulation newspaper, Asahi Shimbun, said they feel
uneasy about the safety of nuclear power plants and believe a
serious accident could happen. Half the respondents said they
believed the government will not make information on nuclear
matters more readily available following an accident, while 42
percent thought the authorities will publish more information.