The Nation - News from Oct. 28, 1988

Demands for improved safety procedures at U.S. nuclear weapons-making plants mounted as 31 members of the House Armed Services Committee appealed directly to President Reagan. “This crisis has not arisen suddenly but over a long period, and it stems from inadequate attention to maintenance, safety and operating conditions,” the lawmakers said in a companion letter to Energy Secretary John S. Herrington. The letters, drafted by Rep. John Spratt Jr. (D-S.C.) and signed by committee chairman Les Aspin (D-Wis.), urged Reagan to appoint quickly the five-members Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, which Congress ordered created this fall to oversee the troubled weapons complex.