Protesters in Belgium damage A-waste ship

Demonstrators smashed the automatic pilot, radar, and radio equipment of a Dutch ship, the Andrea Smits, as it was loading nuclear waste here Sunday. Several persons were hurt in the clash; eight demonstrators were arrested.

The Andrea Smits arrived here after being blockaded by environmentalists in a Dutch canal Wednesday. In the Netherlands it took on 1,800 metric tons of concrete-lined steel drums containing low- to moderate-level radioactive waste to dump in the Atlantic Ocean.

In Zeebrugge it was loading nuclear waste from Belgium, Switzerland, and France and had been ordered to leave this morning by the mayor, who was concerned about the population's being subjected to possible radioactivity for too long.