Nuclear Training

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is training scientists from Taiwan to develop nuclear missile guidance systems, a member of a MIT student group said yesterday.

David Slesinger, a 1972 graduate and member of the Social Action Coordinating Committee that is protesting the project, said the program is "oriented mainly at producing people capable of assembling nuclear warheads in Taiwan."

Robert M. Byers, director of the MIT news office said yesterday "the students from Taiwan are not being trained in the development of missile guidance systems."

Paul Brown of the MIT Center for Advanced Engineering Study said Thursday that 15 engineers from National Taiwan University arrived at the Center last year for two years of study and research. The foreign students are attending classes and building an inertial navigator.

Brown said navigators are used to guide all kinds of vehicles, including boats, airplanes, and missiles.

"The choice of what they worked on wasn't very important. The purpose is to teach them to develop technically intensive industry for Taiwan," Brown said.