WORLD IN BRIEF : SOVIET UNION : Blast Rips Nuclear Plant; Several Hurt

An explosion and fire at a nuclear fuel production plant in the Soviet Far East injured several people and threatened to contaminate the region’s air and water, the official Tass news agency said. The blast in Kazakhstan sent gas clouds over a region near the Soviet borders with Mongolia and China. Tass said an explosion ripped through the Ulba plant’s cellar workshop producing beryllium, a highly toxic heavy metal used to fuel nuclear reactors. The agency said that early tests indicated that beryllium and beryllium compounds were at twice the permitted level in the air and water.