CIA-RDP96-00789R000400400001-3

Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789R000400400001-3
Washington banes
14 Sep 88
Washington Times
Officials say crippled satellite won't
By Warren Strobel
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Problems aboard a Soviet reactor-
-powered spy satellite should not af-
fect U.S. efforts to develop new
sources of nuclear power for the
Strategic Defense Initiative and
other space programs, Reagan ad-
ministration officials and a key sen-
ator said yesterday.
The officials indicated they will
oppose proposals for a joint U.S .-
Soviet ban on putting nuclear reac-
tors in orbit. Those proposals were
made in the wake of Moscow's rev-
elation in May that it had lost radio
contact with the satellite, which is
used to track U.S. naval fleets and is
expected to re-enter the Earth's at-
mosphere this fall.
Rep. George Brown, California
Democrat, introduced legislation
yesterday that would prohibit the
United States from launching nucle-
ar-powered spacecraft, except those
used on planetary probes or lunar
missions, if the president certifies
that the Soviets will do likewise.
But a fellow Democrat, Sen. J.
Bennett Johnston of Louisiana, said
the legislation would "throw the
good out with the bad." He added
that "there are some very attractive,
far-term potential applications of
space nuclear reactors, applications
280 9
affect U.S. SDI plans
that I don't believe any of us are wise
enought to dismiss before the 21st
century even begins.
"There is also a marked contrast
between current Soviet safety prac-
tices and those we will follow with
space nuclear reactors," said Mr.
Johnston, chairman of the Senate
Energy and Natural Resources
Committee.
The Senate committee yesterday
convened a hearing on the fate of
Cosmos 1900, as the Soviet satellite
is designated, and its impact on U.S.
space nuclear power research.
Col. Henry Culbertson, an official
of the U.S. Space Command in Colo-
rado Springs, Colo., which tracks
some 7,200 objects in orbit, said the
satellite is expected to return to
Earth some time late this month or
early next month.
The command will not know even
approximately where Cosmos 1900,
which carries about 110 pounds of
uranium, will fall until two days be-
fore re-entry, Col. Culbertson said.
He said there are two automatic
safety systems "on board - one
which would boost the reactor to a
higher, long-term orbit and another
that would jettison it toward the
Earth, where it should be consumed
by the heat of re-entry.
The United States has not
launched a nuclear-powered space-
craft since 1977, but the Energy De-
partment is studying at least five
different space nuclear power
sources.
Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789R000400400001-3