The World - News from May 25, 1989

Tokyo police reported searching the offices and homes of a Japanese machinery maker and its executives on suspicion that the company illegally exported sensitive nuclear reactor material to East Germany. The firm, Prometron Technics Ltd. of Tokyo, was suspected of exporting the material used for nuclear reactor control rods on several occasions between 1986 and 1987 in violation of international and domestic regulations. The material, known as hafnium, is a rare metal substance. News reports said the hafnium, which the firm imported from the United States, is used chiefly in military reactors aboard nuclear-powered ships.