WASHINGTON--The Justice Department yesterday dropped its efforts to prevent publication of allegedly secret information concerning the hydrogen bomb.

The government's announcement that it would seek dismissal of restraining orders against The Progressive magazine, located in Madison, Wis., and The California Daily, Berkeley's student-run newspaper, came one day after the full contents of a classified letter on nuclear weaponry were published by the Madison Press Connection.

After citing the Press Connection's publication Sunday of a letter on the hydrogen bomb from Charles Hanson, a California computer programmer, Justice Department spokesman Terrence Adamson left open the possibility of legal action in the matter.

Preliminary Inquiry

The department's criminal division "will undertake a preliminary inquiry to determine whether any prosecution is appropriate for violation of court orders in the two cases and the Atomic Energy Act."

The 1954 act prohibits public disclosure of information related to nuclear technology.

"Everybody's just really happy about the decision," Tom Abate, editor of The Daily Californian, said yesterday after hearing the news.

"I'm not kidding you, this was a big load off our backs," he added. "But the important issue is still that the Atomic Energy Act is unconstitutional and repressive."

"We are of course delighted that we'll be able to publish Howard Morland's article," Erwin Knoll, editor of The Progressive, said last night.

"Our only regret is that it took the government six months to end a case it should never have brought," he added.

He said the case, initiated by the government in March, had set The Progressive back $150,000 in legal costs, "and the bills are still coming in. Financially, the effect has been catastrophic."

The banned article on the hydrogen bomb will appear in The Progressive's next issue, Knoll said. Abate said The Daily Californian did not plan to print Hanson's letter in full, but would excerpt it in news stories.