White House Mulls Limits on Nuclear Testing

Under growing pressure from Congress, allied nations and former U.S. adversaries in the aftermath of the Cold War, the Bush Administration is considering proposals to limit U.S. nuclear weapons testing, officials have disclosed.

High-ranking U.S. officials 10 days ago completed work on an “options paper” listing alternative nuclear testing constraints that President Bush could put forward at or before next month’s summit in Washington with Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin, the officials said.

The proposals range from a unilateral U.S. pledge to halve the number of its underground blasts--from six to three a year--to a more sweeping plan that would virtually halt U.S. nuclear testing by 1995.

All the initiatives are said to be opposed by the Defense Department, while senior officials of the State Department, Energy Department and Arms Control and Disarmament Agency have indicated in the paper that they support some new nuclear testing constraints.

But no U.S. agency supports Yeltsin’s demand that Washington immediately join the nuclear testing moratorium that Russia announced last October, the officials said on condition that they not be named.

Proposed legislation requiring a U.S. nuclear testing moratorium is presently supported by at least half of the House of Representatives and one-third of the Senate, including the Democratic leadership in both chambers. That creates substantial pressure on Bush to take some action to deflect a total cutoff of U.S. nuclear tests.

Yeltsin, whose government recently notified Washington that its nuclear testing moratorium will be extended through the end of the year, is expected to raise the issue during his visit here.