(328.3282) WISE Amsterdam - The collision between the US destroyer, USS Kinkaid and the Singapore vessel Kota Petani, caused fires to break out on both ships. An American sailor was killed and five other sailors were injured. The warship, with 20 officers and 297 sailors on board, continued its journey and an hour and 15 minutes later was sighted 20 nautical miles off One Fathom Bank, near the Selangor Coast.
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FIFTY US NUCLEAR VESSELS AT RISK FROM FAULT IDENTIFIED IN UK SUB REACTOR The design of the faulty reactor used in the HMS Warspite was developed from a reactor bought complete from the US and installed in the first UK nuclear powered submarine HMS Dreadnought in 1962. This S5W reactor was designed by Westinghouse and installed in the early US Navy Skipjack class nuclear powered submarines and others until it was replaced in 1979 by the Los Angeles class submarine. |
The incident triggered a 48-hour standdown of all US navy operations throughout the world. It was one of a large number of accidents involving US nuclear-armed ships (10 accidents in only two weeks) which attracted front page headlines around the world (see also WISE News Communique 322, Accidents in Brief). But in Malaysia the news was buried in a three inch brief on the inside pages, and in some cases, no mention was made of the fact that USS Kinkaid is a nuclear warship. (According to a report, "Nuclear Warships and Naval Nuclear Weapons: A Complete Inventory", published by Greenpeace and the Institute of Policy Studies in Washington DC, USS Kinkaid is a Spruance class destroyer which is a nuclear-capable and nuclearpowered ship. It carries 3 ASROC (anti-submarine rockets) that can be fitted with either a 1-kiloton W44 nuclear warhead or a conventional MK-46 acoustic homing torpedo.)
The Malaysian organization Consuner Association of Penang (CAP) has called on the Malaysian government to conduct a full investigation into the accident and to ascertain whether there was any radioactive fallout or contamination. The group is concerned on several counts:
The Straits of Malacca is so narrow and so close to Malaysian shores that thousands of Malaysians were endangered; the Straits is the worki's busiest sea-lane and Malaysians have no way of knowing how many nuclear ships use their waters, as governments will neither confirm nor deny their ships carry nuclear weapons; Malaysia does not at present have adequate, if any, contingency plans or expertise to deal with nuclear accidents.
According to CAP, Malaysians don't even have enough information on what ships sail through the Straits and whether they are nuclear ships. For years, though, ships carrying nuclear weapons or using nuclear energy have been calling at Penang and Port Klang.
In an editorial in its fortnightly paper, Utusan Konsumer, CAP says that at the very least the Malaysian authorities (together with the Indonesians) should make it compelsory for all nucleaNpowered vessels and those carrying nuclear weapons to report and seek permission before entering the Malacca Straits. Secondly, says the group, Malaysians should not allow vessels carrying nuclear weapons to berth in their harbors and ports. "Countries like New Zealand have barred ships carrying nuclear weapons, as well as nuclear-powered vessels, from entering their waters in view of the safety threat. Malaysia should seriously consider such a policy too."
Meanwhile, the editorial goes on to say, the high risk of nuclear accidents is reason enough for nearby Singapore to see that its offer to the US to set up a naval base there is most unwise.
In case Singapore needs further proof, CAP refers to a study by the US-based Environmental Studies Institute which estimates that up to 21,000 people could die from cancer if a nuclear weapon accident occurred on a ship at Yokosuka port in Japan, as it would affect cities like Tokyo and Yokohama within a 100 km radius. The casualties would be much more in the event of a severe accident involving a naval propulsion nuclear reactor. There would be 77,530 deaths from latent cancer fatalities alone and an equal number suffering severe genetic damage. (The Institute's estimates are based on extensive research on hypothetical accident scenarios aboard vessels carrying nuclear weapons as well as nuclearpowered vessels. In the above scenario, it assumes a nuclear weapon accident as the incineration of a single nuclear warhead with 5 kg. of plutonium-239 in a 3-hour ship fire.)
Sources: Utusan Konsumer (Malaysia), Dec. 1989.
Contact: CAP, P0 Box 1045, 10830 Penang, Malaysia, tel: 04-20 391.
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