News In Brief

Channel salvage work begins on radioactive French cargo

Two companies launched a risky salvage operation Tuesday to retrieve 225 tons of potentially explosive radioactive material lost when the French ship Mont Louis sank in the North Sea. Officials said it would probably take two to three weeks to salvage the 30 containers of toxic uranium hexafluoride. Water in the area has been tested and there are no signs of pollution or radioactivity.

No estimate was available on the cost of the salvage, the first of its kind in the world, officials said.