Quake Test of Reactor Halted by W. Germans

West German scientists testing the effects of an earthquake on a nuclear reactor were ordered to stop work Monday because of fears that they could cause a real nuclear accident, industry officials said.

The experiment, using a huge American-built machine known as a “shaker,” had been under way for a week inside the protective dome of an abandoned nuclear reactor at Kahl on the river Main.

A temporary halt was called because of the danger of damage to a second mothballed reactor 150 yards away that still contains radioactive fuel rods, the officials said.