Compensation linked to ‘nuclear winter’ study

Press, 29 August 1986, Page 3

Compensation linked to ‘nuclear winter’ study

By

OLIVER RIDDELL

in Wellington

The first allocation of money paid by France in compensation for the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior will be for a study oh the effects a “nuclear winter” would have on New Zealand. This would be the first such detailed study here and would use $125,000 of the money, said the Prime Minister, Mr Lange. The irony of using the money in this way had not escaped the Government Further announcements would be made next week after the Cabinet had considered a paper at its meeting on Tuesday. Mr Lange said the best that could be hoped for from the study was a set of facts that showed New Zealanders as potential survivors of a nuclear war; the worst was that everyone would die too but at longer notice. If the study showed a feasible way of surviving a “nuclear winter” the Government would allocate a further $500,000 to pursue that, Mr Lange said.

The analysis will involve a six-month study to examine the impact a

major nuclear war in the northern hemisphere would have on the environment, economy and society of New Zealand. It will be overseen by the Planning Council on behalf of the Ministry for the Environment, with a five-member panel on secondment starting work in September. "In spite of our antinuclear policies and our support of the South Pacific Nuclear-Free Zone Treaty, the Government does not imagine that these limited actions will

by themseles halt the arms race or prevent nuclear war,” Mr Lange said.

"Facing the possibility of nuclear war, we need to know how such a war would affect New Zealand’s likelihood of surviving as a complex, modem society,” he said.

It was the social and economic consequences of nuclear war that were likely to have the greatest impact on the South Pacific region.