PROBLEM OF MUTSU

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33654, 2 October 1974, Page 17

PROBLEM OF MUTSU

Bid to find port haven (N.Z.P. A. -Reuter—Copyright) TOKYO, Oct. 1. The Japanese Government has decided to send an official envoy to the Aomori prefecture in northern Japan today, in a bid to .solve the i problem of finding a port j willing to receive Japan’s | first and faulty, nuclearI powered ship the'Mutsu. The Chief Cabinet Secretary (Mr Susumu Nikaido) said that Mr Zenko Suzuki, chairman of the policy ■ affairs research council of ’ the ruling Liberal Democra- . tic Party, would meet local people, including fishermen ■ and the local Governor, Mr I Shinkinchi Takeuchi. Mr Nikaido added that the Cabinet had discussed the future of the vessel, which has been drifting off the Pacific Coa.it of the prefecture since radio-activity leakages, resulting from defective reactor shielding, were detected on September 1 during the Mutsu’s first ocean test. Mr Nikaido did not disclose however, what meas- • ures the Cabinet had agreed ■ to take. The Japan Seamen’s Union > has said that it will order i all crew-membens to leave ■ the ship if the problem is • not solved today.