January 6, 1997

Special report, Minding The Bomb, finds US is shifting from developing nuclear arms to maintaining stockpiles in good condition and using computer simulations and other techniques to assure their potency; shift will cost $40 billion over next 10 years, or more than average annual spending on warhead production during cold war, and has engendered fierce debate over whether transformation is too much or too little; Government says aim of new program, approved in December '96 by Energy Department, is to understand and fix any flaws that might arise in estimated 10,000 warheads that constitute nation's nuclear arsenal, assuring that they can work in decades ahead despite aging; costly program, new lease on life for nuclear bomb makers who lost power and prestige at end of cold war, has been heavily criticized even as Congress begins financing; liberals charge bomb designers are getting more than they need as payoff for supporting Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty; conservatives charge Clinton Administration with failing to do enough to guarantee integrity of nuclear stockpile; say some weapons are showing signs of erosion and decay; Energy Department officials reject criticisms; insist new program is prudent if costly step into unexplored territory; eventually plan use of new diagnostic tools to mimic different facets of bomb performance, relying on powerful computers to tie together whirl of information in what will become ultimate test, namely, computer simulations of nuclear blasts; photo; graph (M)

Metro Matters column discusses political and financial consequences from New York State Goov George Pataki and New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani announcement that Fresh Kills landfill on Staten Island will close in five years (M)

New England Patriots defeat Pittsburgh Steelers, 28-3, in American Conference playoff game (M)

Social services officials in Connecticut have investigated Susan A Leventhal at least five times over last two years after someone accused her of abusing her four children; each time authorities have cleared her of wrongdoing but have refused under state law to identify her accuser; Leventhal has filed suit claiming that she has constitutional right to confront her accusers; photo (M)

Control of Helmsley Empire Expected to Be Contested With the death of Harry B. Helmsley, his wife, Leona Helmsley, may quickly lose control of Helmsley-Spear, the company at the center of a real estate empire that reaps an estimated $60 million a year in fees managing more than 30 million square feet of office buildings.