Nuclear ship on Aug. 23?

Press, 5 August 1976, Page 1

Nuclear ship on Aug. 23?

August 23 is the date a nuclearpowered vessel will probably arrive at a New Zealand port, according to information which for some weeks has been circulating among those actively opposed to the arrival of such a vessel. The port of entry is likely to be Wellington. The second choice is Lyttelton. The vessel is likely to be a submarine. This is speculation based on a number of unsourced reports from Wellington.

There has been some suggestion that all police leave in Wellington. Christchurch, and Auckland has been cancelled for August 23. although the acting head of the Christchurch police district (Detective Superintendent E. G. Perry) has denied that this is the case in Christchurch.

Suggestions that the Army and the Royal New Zealand Navy have been alerted to prepare for the nuclear vessel’s arrival are not so far-fetched. The Army will probably be involved in security measures surrounding the vessel’s presence, and if it is a submarine Navy staff will probably have to man the surface vessel required to accompany a submarine into a New Zealand port. A new organisation of Christchurch and Lyttelton residents opposed to the arrival of nuclear-powered vessels has been formed. According to a spokesman for the group, Mr C. G. Cook, 15,000 people in Canterbury have signed an anti-nuclear power petition. Although the exact date of the nuclear vessel’s arrival has not been confirmed —and the public will not be told until the last minute—most people with an interest in the issue are fairly sure that the vessel will arrive this month. The presence of a United States submarine in Australian waters and the fact that a joint Australian, New Zealand, and United States exercise will be held in the Pacific in September tend to reinforce this view. An unofficial but relicble source said that he knew that a visit to the east coast of Australia had been planned by a nuclearpowered aircraft carrier and that two other submarines were within range of New Zealand at the mofnent.

Another source has suggested that the date of August 23 might be a “leak” by the Government either to mislead the antinuclear lobby or as an attempt to gauge the strength of opposition to it before the vessel arrives.

The possibility that the nuclear vessel might be a ship has not been discounted. One source suggested that the Americans

might consider it better public relations to send a ship first because it would not be as “sinister" as the arrival of a submarine

The Lyttelton Harbourmaster (Captain D. Holden) said he had received instructions about what to do in case of an accident in a nuclear-powered vessel but he did not know if one was due to arrive at Lyttelton. If one did arrive, said Captain Holden, all the necessary action would be taken to inform his staff about safety precautions. The rules regarding the entry of a nuclear vessel into New Zealand ports and the action to take in an emergency have been set out in the Atomic Energy Committee’s report “New Zealand Code for Nuclear Powered Shipping.”

If a vessel arrives at Lyttelton, it will be monitored full-time by a special accident defence team, including an officer of the National Radiation Laboratory and an officer of the Civil Defence organisation. The Prime Minister (Mr Muldoon) has been described by the general secretary of the Labour Party (Mr J. Wybrow) as “arrogant and provocative” iff his handling of the possible visit of a nuclearpowered ship. “It was arrogant in that Mr Muldoon assumes that he can take decisions to withhold information from the average New Zealander on a matter of vital concern and on which the public is badly briefed,” Mr Wybrow said. "His attitude and apparent indifference in giving what he thinks New Zealand wants is provoking a distinct anti - American feeling in the New Zealand community — which I am sure Americans do not want,” said Mr Wybrow. Mr Muldoon's statement would also provoke antinuclear groups to do more to oppose a visit by a nuclear vessel. “1 only hope they will not go too far in manifesting their concern,” Mr Wybrow said. “They are opposed only because they do not know what is going to happen, and because no assurances have so far allayed their fears." The Navy League, however, is fully behind the Government’s intention to accept visits from nuclearpowered vessels. The Navy League’s Dominion president (Mr R. W Jones) said that there had been a lot of misunderstanding about the dangers of nuclear power. The Government had a “large responsibility" to inform the public fully about safety measures adopted round the world.

"We fully support what the Government has decided,” Mr Jones said.