The Nation - News from April 4, 1989

Energy Secretary James D. Watkins told Congress he expects to give final approval by August to a plan for restarting nuclear reactors in South Carolina that make materials for atomic weapons. Watkins told a special panel of the House Armed Services Committee he had begun reviewing restart recommendations from Westinghouse Electric Corp., which operates the Savannah River Site reactors near Aiken, S.C., under an Energy Department contract. The three reactors, which produce tritium, a radioactive gas used in nuclear warheads, at Savannah River have been shut down for nearly a year because of safety problems.