U.S. Violates A-Test Pacts, Soviets Claim : Charge Radioactive Emissions, Ignoring of Blast Size Limits

The United States has openly and covertly violated superpower accords on nuclear weapons tests, the Communist Party daily Pravda said today in an apparent response to U.S. accusations of Soviet cheating.

The Soviet Union staged its second nuclear test in two weeks Thursday after the Kremlin abandoned a 19-month halt in its testing program that the United States had refused to join.

Two days earlier in Washington, President Reagan submitted a report to Congress accusing the Soviets of violating superpower treaties on testing and arms control.

Reagan’s report, among other things, accused the Soviets of “regularly permitting the release of nuclear debris into the atmosphere” during their nuclear tests.

Emissions Charged

In an apparent response to Reagan’s report, Pravda said the Soviet Union has repeatedly protested U.S. tests that it says caused the emission of radioactive substances that were carried by winds outside of U.S. territory.

Pravda called the alleged generation of fallout a “flagrant violation” of a 1963 treaty that sets standards for nuclear testing.

On Wednesday, the U.S. State Department issued a statement saying fallout from a Soviet test on Feb. 26 had been detected outside the Soviet Union.

The Pravda article made no reference to the U.S. protest, but on Thursday Soviet Foreign Ministry spokesman Boris Pyadyshev said Soviet diplomats in Washington had refused to accept it.

Kiloton Ceiling Cited

Pravda also said the United States had “more than once” staged nuclear explosions at its Nevada test site that exceeded the ceiling of 150 kilotons set by a 1974 treaty.

It cited American scientists and publications as having confirmed during congressional hearings that the Soviet Union was adhering to the pact.

“The United States, by going ahead with its nuclear tests, not only frustrates a possibility to reach agreement on cessation of all nuclear explosions but also directly resorts to covert a1852055663accords which limit the parameters of such tests,” Pravda said in conclusion.