NATION IN BRIEF : NATIONWIDE : Nuclear Weapons Plants to Be Studied

Facing a lawsuit by environmentalists, Secretary of Energy James D. Watkins announced his department will conduct major environmental studies of plans to rebuild and clean up 17 nuclear weapons plants in 12 states. Watkins also announced he was sending teams of environmental specialists to five weapons plants or laboratories to study their compliance with federal and state environmental laws as well as health and safety rules. The plants include the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory at Livermore, Calif.; the Sandia nuclear weapons laboratory in New Mexico; the Savannah River Site near Aiken, S.C.; the Pinellas weapons components plant near Largo, Fla., and the Brookhaven nuclear research laboratory at Upton, N.Y.