Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 14:35:57 
 
X-Listprocessor-Version: 8.0 -- ListProcessor(tm) by CREN
Status: R

17 Sep 1996 (Reuter) - Radiation levels rose sharply inside
the Chernobyl nuclear power plant's ruined fourth reactor and
scientists are investigating whether this could lead to a
chain reaction, a director said Tuesday. Valentyn Kupny, in
charge of the ``sarcophagus'' surrounding the reactor, said
meters inside the cracking steel and concrete structure had
shown big increases for a time Monday. Kupny said three of 10
meters had shown increases in neutron radiation inside the
sarcophagus. A Western-backed project to build a new
sarcophagus, estimated to cost $1.2 billion, was first made
public three years ago but no steps have yet been taken to
build it. 

17 Sep 1996 (Reuter) - Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto
called on neighboring India Tuesday to drop its opposition to
the global nuclear test ban treaty, but said Islamabad could
not sign the pact until New Delhi did the same. ``Given our
own security concerns, we are not in a position to sign unless
India does, but we urge India to review its approach and to go
with the rest of the world,'' she told Reuters in an
interview. 

17 Sep 1996 (UPI) -- The largest shipment of uranium ever to
enter Japan by sea was unloaded in northern Japan Tuesday
after arriving from France. The 600 tons of unenriched uranium
was removed from the Panamanian- registered Eastern Hero at
Mutsuogawara port and then shipped to a processing plant in
nearby Rokkasho, a village in Aomori Prefecture some 800 km
(480 miles) north of Tokyo. It was the first time the port
accepted a direct shipment of uranium originating from a
foreign source.