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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 1, 1983)
I Nuclear power: more problems This week marks the fourth anniversary of the acci dent at Three Mile Island. Since the near catastrophic melting of the inner core of TMI 2, as the plant is called, the utility responsible for the plant and the nuclear in dustry in general has worked to improve its image and re main indiscreet at the same time. This hasn’t worked in Oregon. The Washington Public Power Suppy System (WPPSS), the nation’s largest issuer of tax-exempt bonds, is dealing with the default on billions of dollars of bonds and law-suits. Two of the five plants have been stopped. One is mothballed and one lies unfinished. Only one of the five is operating. Since TMI, the industry has worked hard to regulate itself and prove the “safety” of nuclear power. An In stitute of Nuclear Power Operators set up after TMI in vestigates and evaluates all the plants, issuing papers on safety and establishing a network of case reports on “events” at nuclear power plants. Perhaps the biggest reason nuclear power plants are not on their way out is the amount of energy they present ly supply. Currently 12 percent of the nation’s energy is nuclear and twice that amount is possible if the 65 plants now under construction were finished. Three Mile island was the beginning of a rethinking of national policy on nuclear power. However, the industry has worked and succeeded in countering this, despite the fact that the inherent problems in the nuclear industry have not been met: namely, waste disposal. Federal deadlines to dispose of low-level waste sites by 1986 will not be met. No permanent dump sites, only temporary ones, like Hanover, have been established. Human error is the major long-standing problem for operational plants. Little has been done to train operators to deal with crisis situations — even at TMI which rates seven out of 12 of its priority problems to be management related ones. Rising utility bills may be the best defense against building more nuclear power plants— plants without pro per emergency “event” precautions, plants without transportation networks to move radioactive waste, plants without radioactive waste disposal sites. Meanwhile, though TMI is only one-third through cleaning-up the March 28,1879 accident they are planning a "Run-By.” Zealous pro-nuclear power supporters can pay $5 to run past the cooling towers and show their sup port of their plant — improve the image. opinion j letters Who cares After reading the letter about fashion by Drew O’Rouke, my main thought was "Who the hell cares?” O’Rouke, Oregonians are a laid back sort of people. We wear what is comfortable. That is not to say we don't wear nice clothes. We are only con cerned with making ourselves presentable to the average John Smith. What you suggest is that people spend hundreds of dollars to wear designer clothes. As far as your comparison to Eugene businessmen with Wall Street businessmen, I have yet to see anyone dress ed in a polyester suit I That Is a little far-fetched. If in dividualism includes clashing color combinations and Items that were never meant to be worn together. (Bermuda shorts and paisley ties), then leave me out. That son of dressing doesn't dictate style, it shows bad taste. ff you feel that you can't find the clothes you desire here, then get out of Oregon, O'Rouke. Go to the places where you can be on top of the trends and be able to feed your vanity until your eyes bug out, like California, New York or France. O’Rouke, fashion does not make a person kind loving or intelligent. The clothes don't make the man, the man makes the clothes. Kritton Hybartson music education Word gender This letter regards Harry Esteve's column concerning sexist language in yesterday's Emerald. One who chairs a commit tee may be a “chairman" or a “chairwoman,” however, they are never a "chairer." The correct, non-sexist term for one who chairs a group is simply “chair.” Because the "chair" presides, the term president is also correct. As writers in the media, one needs to utilize one’s existing non-sexist terms before resor ting to one's own grammatical inventions. C. Bergeron junior, visual design Pro Watt James Watt is one of the best friends our nation can have. In advocating private ownership of government lands rather than the unjust seizures of more private lands, he is attempting to perpetuate the system that has made this the gr jatest nation on earth — free enterprise. My grandmother once own ed part of a Florida island in the 1950s that was seized by the government to preserve its undisturbed wilderness. Despite the fact that the government had justified seizure of this land to protect its pristine nature, they authorized the building of docks and various structures and began a ferry service to the island. Public ownership took away any private incentive to keep the land clean The formerly privately owned wilderness now resembles a publicly own ed garbage dump gaining the name "beercan beach." Government ownership wasn’t the cureall after all, actually doing more harm than good. 72 percent of Oregon is government owned, and LCDC squelches development of most of the remaining 28 per cent of private land. Oregon thus is destined to remain in economic stagnation unless the goverment adopts a laissez-faire approach. Oregon public lands should be put up for sale as Watt advocates, and LCDC must be struck down as unconstitutional. This would reduce property taxes and allow our state economy to grow. It is ridiculous to believe that federal or state govern ments can preserve land bet ter than local governments and free enterprise. Pseudo intellectual liberal college pro fessors, Tip O’Neills, Jane Fondas, and Ted Kennedys all fail to realize that, despite over 50 years of their intense socialistic indoctrination of our nation’s youth, free enter prise still emerges as the dominant and superior force in America. Private ownership is the only real and fair answer to mismanaged federal lands. Brandon Shepard Misconception Several concerned students have written letters complain ing that their Incidental Fee Committee money is funding subversive, political organiza tions like Students for a Nuclear Free Future. They have expressed some misconceptions that I would like to set straight. emerald The Oregon Daily ErwiH) is published Monday through Friday escept dunng week and vacation*, by in* Oregon Dally Emarald Publishing Co a It* University ol Oregon. Eugene. OP 97403 The Emerald operates independently ol in* University with ollw.es on in* third floor ol th* Ert> Memorial Union and is a member of the Associated Press Editor Managing Editor News Editor Aaalatar.i News Editor Editorial Page Editor Photo Editor Ci/orts Editor Aaaociata Sports Editor Entadammanl Editor Night Editor Higher Education Departments and Schools Student Government Feat urea Politics Student ServicealCcmmuniiy General SUN Advertising Manager Claesitied Advertising Production Manager Controtter Marry E Steve John Mealy Marian Green Cort Fernaid Joan Nytand Bob Baker Mike Riplinger Paul Danzer Jonathan Slagle Cort Fernaid Sandy Johnstone Frank Shaw Richard Burr Sean Meyers Michele Matassa Ateta Zak Darlene Gore Sally Oliar Victoria Koch Jean Ownbey Sterling Coke argues that nearly everything SNuFF has printed advocates “political action that would...take the United States on a path away from nuclear power." Not true. In the past few years SNuFF has focused exclusively on the arms race. Coke also complains that SNuFF spent this incidental fees on an advertisement sup porting the nuclear freeze. Not true. The ad was paid for by the individuals whose names appeared in the ad. SNuFF also did not spend any money to send protestors to Vanden bufg/Thief protestors wbnt on their own acCdliht u&hfb their own money. SNuFF is an educational organization with one political belief: Nuclear war is an un thinkable catastrophe, and therefore, we should adamant ly work for disarmament. We are committed to educating the campus community about the dangers presented by the nuclear arms race and to discussing possible alter natives to its continuation. America needs to discuss this issue and SNuFF hopes to help facilitate that discussion. We invite everyone to write an article for our newsletter ex plaining their beliefs regarding the arms race. Coke doesn't want to sup port SNuFF with his incidental fee, but what about the students who don't want to support the athletic depart ment or the Emerald? What about Islamic students who don't want to support a Jewish Student Union and vice versa? Nobody agrees with every organization that is funded. The incidental fee is designed to fund student organizations based on their needs and how well they represent the stu dent body. SNuFF’s $220 breaks down to roughly a half cent per student per term. If opponents of SNuFF would form an organization opposing disarmament, I would support their funding based on the number of students involved and their contribution to the campus community. I think such a group could help facilitate a campus-wide discussion of the arms race, and that is what we need, not bickering over pennies. Bill Hall mar* sophomore, psychology
