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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 26, 1982)
Nuclear power a ‘dead-end road’ Skeptical author analyzes ‘coverup’ By Katharina Marrtll Oiamtmi wW "I don't think there would be an issue of nuclear power if it hadn't been covered up," says author Karl Grossman "If you look through the records, it’s the blind blinding themselves. ” After studying government and industry documents on nuclear power obtained through the 1957 Freedom of Information Act, Grossman wrote "Cover Up: What you are not supposed to know about Nuclear Power He reviewed the contents of the book in his lecture Thursday night at the Lane County Conference Center Grossman, a broadcast jour nalist and journalism professor at the State University of New York, lectured on the 13th annual Earth Day as part of campus Earth Week programs Wien it comes to researching nuclear power, 'don’t believe any source," he said. "But what the source can do is lead you to the truth." The federal government and large corporations have tried to "push and manipulate" the country down a "dead-end road” with nuclear power, Grossman said After the discovery of the atomic bomb, the government and corporations searched for other ways to use the fission process. "They were looking for something to keep it all going,'' he said. Wien the Price-Anderson Act passed in 1957, the nuclear in dustry became legally obligated to pay up to $560 million for damages resulting from a nu clear accident Under provisions of the act, the government pays the first $500 million A recently University Bookstore selling more books Sales are up about 5 percent over the last fiscal year, according to a report at Thursday's meeting of the University Bookstore Board of Directors The annual meeting, which drew an audience of about 40, included board nominations and a complaint about the Bookstore selling Playboy magazine Bookstore sales currently total about $5 2 million, said Ted Shiman uki. the University Bookstore Treasurer "We are very pleased with this sales growth,” Bookstore president Bobbie Weidner said. "I think this will be fairly stable until the end of the year (June 30).” The largest single item sales growth is a 52 percent jump in used book sales. SNmanuki said, adding that sales of T-shirts and sporting goods are down. Seven students were nominated for student-at-large positions on the Board of Directors, the most of any position receiving nominations. Nominated were Ronald Taylor, Ricky Lee Smithrud, Mark Tone, Martin Moll, Michael Larson Kevin Thomas and Jon Gimre. Two students were nominated for the two sophomore board posi tions: Dale Penegor, an unsuccessful candidate for the Incidental Fee Committee during the ASUO primary election, and Andy Storment Graduate students Holly McLaen. David Gold. Craig Edwards, and Mark Tranzer were nominated for the graduate position. Muriel Jackson, assistant for administration in the University president's office, was nominated for the faculty position and Fred Wilhelm, currently respresenting classified staff on the board, was re-nominated for his current post The bookstore board of directors election will be held May 13 and 14, with members elected for two-year terms. rc m of O tpOKSf&RE AST DEPT A 5ILK^)CREE>J DEMONSTRATION *S>Y K£>4 'RWA L ^H3t/^fTTT~W<lK^/(iflp 1:3° Ph ,u)a>>mysY,Mqi~ 25"* MAK^^uf^CW * P05YEK6 + 0*^5 *■ fNivrr^cn^N^ nraaon Dallv Emarald proposed amendment would raise the level to $280 billion, Grossman said Also in 1957, a report done by the nuclear power industry said a nuclear plant accident could re sult in 3,400 deaths and 43,000 injuries, killing everyone within 15 ‘The Columbia may be the most radioactive river in the world' miles of the plant and injuring people within 45 miles. In an updated version of that report, the nuclear industry con ceeds that "if you have machin ery, there will be breakdowns,” Grossman said. “The emergency core cooling system cannot be If made foolproof,” the report states. While "China Syndrome” type of accidents involving loss of coolant is the most widely pub licized kind of nuclear accident, he said reports state that this is not the most serious type of major accident. The most serious accident would be a nuclear runaway, Grossman said. This would occur as the result of a broken control rod leading to the release of fission products and a reactor explosion. It would happen in a second, he said. “There is no time to evacuate — no time to run." Recovery plans are not much use, Grossman said. “Once you create these toxic poisons, there’s no keeping them in." Even if people could avoid contamina tion, food sources couldn’t, he said. The waste produced by nuclear power plants is another danger to human lives, Grossman said. It was originally dealt with by putting the radioactive material in salt mines, but there was a heat prob lem with this method. At the Hanford nuclear power plant they experimented with us ing "cribs” that had sides but no bottoms. "The Columbia river has been called the most radioactive river in the world,” he said. Putting 55 gallon drums filled with nuclear waste in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans was stopped, Grossman said, but “Reagan is moving to start it again.' ’ Burying the waste is another way to deal with the problem, but Grossman found a report that suggests it may be possible to smelt the material and make it into consumer or capital equipment. "There's just no place to hide,” he says. ^ - il Looking for the right gift to appreciate f your motherP Buy my of the books from our Special Mothers Day Table and we’ll send it to her at our expense j 13th & Kincaid Offer end* Friday, May 7th 1 Moo-Fri 7:30-5:30 Limited to quantities on hand : 1 Sal 1040-3:00 Caah register sales only Textbooks M6-3520 . General Books MO-3510 • Supplies MO-4331 Pace 5
