U.S. ATOMIC WEAPONS

Press, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 26745, 31 May 1952, Page 7

U.S. ATOMIC WEAPONS

Plans To Hhsten Production (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 7 p.m.) WASHINGTON, May 29. The 3,341,000,000-dollar expansion of the United States atomic production programme announced by President Truman to-day is expected to lead to a speed-up in the production of the hydrogen bomb as well as other nuclear weapons. Officials decline to confirm or deny persistent reports that the first hydrogen bomb will be exploded in the Pacific next September, but they acknowledge that the funds which Mr Truman to-day asked of Congress are for a programme to carry out the production of “fantastic new weapons” to which Mr Truman referred in a speech in San Francisco on September 5, 1951. Urging Congress to act without delay to increase American leadership m the atomic arms race, Mr Truman called to-day for an immediate start on a new five-year atomic production programme which ultimately will cost an estimated 4,200,000,000 dollars. Defence Department officials said last week that the United States atomic lead over the Soviet Union was fading daily. The Director of the Budget (Mr Frederick Lawton) said that the Tennessee Valley Authority would receive 150,000,000 dollars for additional electrical plants to power new atomic factories and that the United States Atomic Energy Commission would be allocated the balance of the funds sought by Mr Truman. The new programme is proposed while the present 2,000,000,000-dollar expansion is under way. Mr Truman said the new facilities would “provide a greater capacity for the production of fissionable materials and for the fabrication of such materials into atomic weapons.” They will include a 1.000,000,000dollar atomic explosives plant, which may be built in the Ohio river valley. The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee refused on Wednesday to restore the 174,000.000-dollar cut on the Atomic Energy Commission’s regular appropriation for the new financial year, but it promised to review its decision in the light of Mr Truman’s request.