The World - News from Oct. 12, 1988

Key members of Congress urged a reversal of a Reagan Administration decision approving the shipment of weapons-grade plutonium to Japan by sea instead of by air. Under a recent 30-year agreement, Washington is to supply Tokyo with the radioactive fuel for its nuclear reactors. Congress approved the deal after the Administration agreed to send the weapons-grade material by plane, a method believed to be safer than ships because aircraft are more difficult to hijack or attack. But in submitting revisions of the deal Sept. 20, the Administration decided to use ships and invoked a clause that gave Congress 15 days to disapprove instead of the usual 90. Rep. Howard Wolpe (D-Mich.) said of the move: “I can’t think of a better prescription for a national security disaster.”