Explosions concealed

Press, 22 January 1988, Page 30

Explosions concealed

NZPA-Reuter New York The United States has concealed at least 117 nuclear explosions at its underground test site aover the last 25 years, the "New York Times,” reported. It attributed the front page report to seismic data about earth tremors contained in a 61-page study by the Natural Resources Defence Council, a private New York-based group opposed to nuclear testing. Reuters’ phone calls to the council went unanswered. The newspaper called

the study the first firm estimate of how many nuclear tests the United States has kept secret since it reached agreement with the Soviet Union a quarter of a century ago to ban nuclear testing everywhere except underground. All the secret tests involved relatively small explosions, usually less than a kiloton or the equivalent of 1000 tons of dynamite, the newspaper said. It said the tests comprised 20 per cent of all American nuclear explosions in the last 25

years. The report is likely to add to the debate among scientists and in the U.S. Congress over possible limitations on underground testing at the Government site in the Nevada Desert. The U.S. Government contends that it has the right to hide the existence of nuclear tests. The “Times” quoted one Government spokesman as saying Washington would neither confirm nor deny the accuracy of the council’s report.