European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - October 28, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Friday october 28, 1988 the stars and stripes Page q counting Down the sovid spare shuttle has started its countdown for saturday s launch. The Craft named Buran and its big Booster rocket Sil on the launch pad at the cos mod Rome Bai Konur and await the Pioneer flight which will be unmanned change sweeping Eastern Europe Whitehead says Washington a the state department s second ranking official says Eastern Europe is in the throes of dramatic change Wilh a Strong desire Tor closer tics to the West and withdraw Al of soviet troops from the Region. The East european countries Are be ginning 1o return to their historical Posi Tion where hey were Indio indent coun tries part of Europe associated with the West economically politically John Whitehead said wednesday. Al believe they arc beginning to return to historically their More Normal  Whitehead who resumed recently from an 11-Day visit to the six soviet allies in the Region said the Pace of change is uneven. He said that Poland and Hungary arc at the forefront that Romania is lagging behind and that bul Garia Czechoslovakia and East Germany Are somewhere in  the impression of my trip is that there is dramatic change going on in Eastern Europe not  he said. This is a very favourable change from the Point of View of the United  while cad who is Deputy Secretary of state has made six trips to Eastern Europe As Secretary of stale George p. Shutlz s principal Liaison with countries of the area. Part of his assignment is to encourage he changes. The administration has fell that with the ambitious political and economic re form movement in the soviet Union under president Mikhail Gorbachev change was inevitable in Eastern Europe and officials have been monitoring developments there far More closely than before. A major exception to the Reform movement is Romania where an absolutely outrageous human rights Situa Tion exists As a result of a government plan to demolish up to 7,000 villages under an agricultural modernization project Whitehead said. He said the people in these villages Are being moved to Cement Block bar Rucks like structures without running water and toilets. You can imagine living in an apart ment House with no toilets. It s pretty atrocious Whitehead said. He said the four countries where the soviets have stationed troops East Germany Hungary Poland Czechoslovakia Are hopeful for the withdrawal of these forces and Are not insisting that it take place along Wilh an american troop pullback from Western Europe. He added however that he docs not foresee the dissolution of the Warsaw pact As imminent or  there Are an estimated 380,000 soviet troops in East Germany. 80,000 i Czechoslovakia 65,000 in Hungary and 40,000 in Poland. Whitehead said the changes in the re Gion Are the result of Papular pressure. Governments Are not immune from the dissatisfaction of their people he said adding that there is widespread recognition in the six countries that they Are slipping farther and farther behind the West in every Way. Romania aside All the countries Are improving their human rights performance and there arc changes in other areas As Well Whitehead said. They arc making Progress in Chang ing their political systems the structures of their political institutions to bring More democracy. They re making Prog Ress in convening their economic sys tems o Western style free Market sys tems he said. Whitehead said he sees an accelerated trend toward closer economic tics be tween the two Europe and with West Ern dominated financial and Trade institutions. As More liberalized policies develop in Eastern Europe he said the United states will be in a position to support greater integration of the Region into the Western economic system. Group Calls for nuclear weapons Plant safety Washington a an anti nuclear physicians group on wednesday urged president Reagan to Lake drastic Steps to improve safely at . Nuclear weapons making facilities where production virtually has halted because of safety concerns. Four major plants in the 14-facility manufacturing Complex have been wholly or partially closed for safety reasons and the production of nuclear weapons has ground to a Hall according to officials at the Energy and defense departments. The anti nuclear group physicians for social responsibility said in a statement that contamination and dubious safely procedures at the plants have direct and potentially devastating medical  they constitute a Public health emergency said h. Jack Geiger a member of the committee and a professor at the City University of new York medical school. Geiger said nit enough studies have been conducted to determine whether nuclear wastes from the Sites have caused cancer or other illnesses among workers or nearby residents. The Energy department has Esti mated it would Cost s66 billion to $110 billion to clean up the waste and upgrade the facilities and congressional estimates have run As High As 1170 billion. In a letter to Reagan the physicians4 group urged the administration to give the newly created National defense safety Board the Power to close Down any Energy department nuclear facility it deems "not.,. In compliance with safety Public health occupations and environmental  Congress created the Board under the defense authorization Bill for fiscal 1989 to Monitor Doe s beleaguered nuclear weapons program which manufactures atomic weapons for the Pentagon. The Board does not have Powers of enforcement. Doe is reviewing the safety and operation of All of its plans to report to Congress by mid december on whether to close any of them. The Wall Street journal on wednesday said an Early draft of that report Calls for permanent closing of two facilities one in Fernald Ohio and another near Den ver where work was interrupted earlier this year be cause of health and safety reasons. Workers at the feed materials production Center in of Mald about 20 Miles North of Cincinnati have been out on strike for a month forcing the Center to suspend operations. And Ohio gov. Richard Celeste has urged that Federal authorities close the Fernald Plant which according to Doe documents filed in court regularly has dumped radioactive waste into the water and air. Two workers at the Rocky Flats Plant near Denver suffered Low level radioactive contamination on sept. 29, prompting authorities to close building 771, a plutonium reprocessing facility. A Doe spokesman will Callicott said that because the department s study of the nuclear facilities was no Complete it is premature to comment on its recon  two other major weapons facilities have been closed. The three reactors at the Savannah River Plant near Aikin s.c., where plutonium and tritium for nuclear weapons arc manufactured were shut Down earlier this year Fok safety reasons. The department is working on plans to restart one of the reactors in december although details have not been finalized Callicott said. The department also closed Down another reactor where it had been manufacturing plutonium and tritium in Hanford wash., and has no current plans to reopen it officials said. The physicians committee urged Reagan to pro Hibit the department of Energy from restarting any of its reactors at Savannah River or reopening facilities presently closed at female Rocky Flats and Hanfor until an Independent commission completes an evaluation of the Public health occupational and Environ mental safely risks of the continued operation of these  while House spokesman b. Jay Cooper said the president s office had not received the letter from the physicians committee and could not comment directly on it. The department of Energy is on top of this Situa Tion said Cooper. He said Energy Secretary John Herrington has developed a plan to Check out All the Sites to Issue a report in december. And rank the Sites in order of  the Bottom line is that the president has said that we will not operate an unsafe nuclear Plant and we will not said Cooper. . Officials have said they have adequate supplies of Paul opium but face critical shortages of Indium a radioactive isotope of Hydrogen used to boost the Power of nuclear explosions