  We discuss the new data for the production of the $\psi'$ meson in pA
collisions at 450 GeV at CERN-SPS (of the NA50-collaboration) [1]. We extract
from the CERN data $\sigma(\psi' N)\approx 8$ mb under the assumption that the
$\psi'$ is produced as a result of the space-time evolution of a point-like
$c\bar c$ pair which expands with time to the full size of the charmonium
state. In the analysis we assume the existence of a relationship between the
distribution of color in a hadron and the cross section of its interaction with
a nucleon. However, our result is rather sensitive to the pattern of the
expansion of the wave packet and significantly larger values of $\sigma(\psi'
N)$ are not ruled out by the data. We show that recent CERN data confirm the
suggestion of [2] that color fluctuations of the strengths in
charmonium-nucleon interaction are the major source of suppression of the
$J/\psi$ yield as observed at CERN in both pA and AA collisions.
