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

DATE: FRIDAY, May 25, 1990                   TAG: 9005250122
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

N-MISSILE SAFETY STUDY CONFIRMED

The Defense and Energy departments are conducting a safety study of older short-range nuclear missiles carried aboard Air Force bombers that includes looking into whether the weapons should be grounded, the Pentagon's spokesman said on Thursday.

The directors of three U.S. nuclear weapons programs called for the withdrawal of the weapons in a congressional hearing on Wednesday, suggesting there was a remote possibility the weapons could leak plutonium in an accident.

The missiles, known as the Short-Range Attack Missile-A, are carried aboard B-52, B-1B and FB-111 bombers. The Air Force has said that 1,500 of the weapons were produced between 1971 and 1975, but the number now deployed is classified.

Pentagon spokesman Pete Williams, questioned by reporters about the testimony, said a study of the missile is under way. Its safety is the subject of the study, he said.

But he insisted that the missile "currently meets all the safety standards. There is nothing unsafe about the SRAM-A."

Asked whether the study involved looking into the possible discontinued use of the missile, Williams said: "There is a specific study of that question going on now. The results are due out sometime this summer."

Pending the results of that study, there are no plans to withdraw the weapons and place them in storage, Williams said.

by CNB