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Vol. LXXXIX, No. 142
Ann Arbor, Michigan-Thursday, March 29, 1979
Ten Cents
Twelve Pages
Radiation leaks due
to Pa. plant mishap
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - An ac-
cident at the Three Mile Island nuclear
power plant apparently damaged the
reactor core and sent radioactive
material into the atmosphere, the
government said yesterday.
Officials said their readings indicated
there was no immediate danger to the
public.
EDSON CASE, a spokesman for the
Nuclear - Regulatory Commission
(NRC), said radiation levels inside the
plant's reactor building registered at
1,000 times normal.
The NRC statement followed a
statement from the company saying the
accident may have damaged the fuel
cladding, the metal tubes which contain
the pellets of radioactive uranium fuel.
The cause of the accident - or. the
precise sequence of events that led to
the radiation's release - could not be
immediately determined.
BUT LT. GOV. William Scranton said
steam containing radioactive material
was released into the air for over two
hours to "relieve potentially dangerous
pressure" in the reactor.
"The situation is more complex than
the company first led us to believe,"
Scranton said.
"It (the release of the steam) was
done to relieve potentially dangerous
pressure in the reactor chamber,"
Scranton said at a news briefing.
"Because of an apparent leak in the
primary cooling system, radioactive
material was discharged into the air
along with the steam," he said.
HE SAID THERE were no plans to
evacuate the 15,000 persons living
within a mile of the plant.
Plant officials said some workers
may have been contaminated, but in-
sisted no significant radiation leaked
outside the facility.
"I'm sure some of them got exposure,
but positively none were over-
exposed," Jack Herbein, vice president
for generation at Metropolitan Edison,
one of the consortium of utilities that
runs the facility, said before the NRC
announcement.
FOUCHARD SAID low level
radiation was measured up to a mile
outside the borders of the 200-acre
powerplant.
The NRC spokesman said the amount
of radiation detected in this range was
relatively small, but was emanating
from the power plant building itself -
indicating intense radioactivity inside
the plant.
- "There's a hell of a lot of radiation in
the reactor building," Fouchard said of
the readings.
PLANT SPOKESMAN William Gross
said "a handful" of workers were con-
taminated. The plant employs 500 per-
sons, and Gross said 25 technicians
were examining the workers with
geiger counters.
Officials had said earlier that
readings taken from the atmosphere
outside the plant after the accident
showed less radiation than a person
.4rould absorb from a chest X-ray.
Case said NRC staff members and
plant officials were inside the power
plant control room. At one point, he
said, the workers were forced temi-
porarily to don face masks because
radioactive materials leaked into the
room.
THE PROBLEM facing technicians
was to reduce the temperature and
pressure inside the reactor dome, and
to stop the leakage of radioactive gases.
Case said heat-caused pressure in-
side the dome had risen temporarily to
four or five pounds per square inch
above outside atmospheric pressure -
enough to cause leakage. The leaking
gases may have included radioactive
gases such as iodine and xenon, he said,
but the pressure was not high enough to.
cause heavy fuels such as uranium or
plutonium to leak.
Sen. Gary Hart, (D-Colo.), chairman
of the Senate subcommittee on nuclear
regulation, said human error appeared
to have been a factor in the accident.
"I AM INFORMED (by the NRC)
that the emergency core cooling system
was turned off prematurely - resulting
in a partial blockage of water needed to
cool the nuclear core and keep it under
control," he said.
"Some human error seems to have
been involved in responding to the
emergency situation," he said, adding
the NRC had told him radiation levels
outside the plant did not pose a health
hazard.
AP Photo
Radioactive steam, from a containment building at left, rose from the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Harrisburg,
Pa. yesterday after an accident forced the release of the material. Experts say small quantities of radioactivity were
detected as much as a mile away from the plant.
KIMBERL Y RESIDENTS RILED A T GOP:
Woods issune sltr
By JEFFREY WOLFF
In the traditionally Republican
stronghold of the Third Ward, there is
at least one neighborhood, Kimberly
Hills, in which Republican incumbent
Louis Senunas faces widespread
discontent in his upcoming race against
Democrat Halley Faust.
Two years ago, Senunas was elected
by practically a 2-1 margin, thus
preserving the Republicans' record of
never having lost a council race in
Third Ward. Although Republican
Louis Belcher barely defeated Mayor
Al Wheeler last year, he nearly doubled
Wheeler's total in the Third Ward.
HOWEVER, during Senunas' term,
the highest concern for the hundreds of
residents represented in the Kimberly
Neighborhood Association has been
preserving acreage for a nature
preserve (see story below). This effort
has translated into neighborhood ex-
penditures of thousands of dollars on
Court ruling preserves 5
acres of Kimberly Woods-
two court cases. The residents raised
$108,000 in 1977 in an unsuccessful effort
to buy the 18 acres, they raised another
$27,000 a year later to provide the city
funds for a state matching grant to buy
the land for the city, and they showed
up to voice their views at the relevant
Planning Commission and Council
meetings.
Faust refers to his background in
preventive and community medicine
city elections '79
and as medical director of Public
Health Department in Livingston Coun-
ty as making him particularly sensitive
to the need for open spaces and preser-
ving such natural environments.
Conversations with many residents
support the assertion of Lex Grapen-
tine, a frequent spokesman for the
neighborhood association. "There is a
very strong feeling (among the neigh-
See KIMBERLY, Page 6
agreemei
By RON GIFFORD
A tentative contract agreement has
been reached between the University
and the American Federation of State,
County, and Municipal Employees
(AFSCME) Local 1583, according to
AFSCME bargaining committee
chairman Art Anderson.
After a 15-hour negotiating session on
Tuesday, the two sides "reached a ten-
tative agreement" on the contract ter-
ms, he said.
AFSCME represents more than 2100
service personnel at the Ann Arbor,
Flint, and Dearborn campuses, in-
cluding maintenance and food service
workers, custodians, and nurses' aides.
Anderson would not comment on the
specific details of the contract until the
negotiating team could inform the
union membership of them. He did say,
however, that "we didn't get
everything we wanted, but we are
satisfied."
The terms are "within the bottom
line" the workers need to live on, he ad-
ded. The economic agreement is also
within the voluntary wage and price
guidelines established by President
Carter, which limit increases to seven
per cent, Anderson said.
THE UNION leadership will recom-
mend that the membership ratify the
contract, Anderson said, and he added,
"After we explain the contract, we're
quite sure they will ratify it. We made
some pretty good gains." The
ratification vote will be April 7 from 1-5
p.m. in Rackham Auditorium.
The negotiations, which began
January 31, went very smoothly, ac-
cording to John Forsyth, assistant
director of personnel and leader of the
University bargaining team. "Both
partners were very well prepared, and
had done their homework before
coming to the table. All the bargaining
was done in good faith,"he said.
"The (tentative) agreement is in the
best interests of both the union mem-
bership and the University com-
munity," Forsyth added.
The current AFSCME contract with
the University was to expire on March
20, but the terms of that agreement
were extended until April 4 by a mem-
bership vote two weeks ago. The union
leadership had recommended the ex-
tension, as the negotiations were
moving smoothly into their final stages.
The new contract, if approved, will be
retroactive to March 20 and will be a 25-
month agreement, Forsyth said.
'U', AFSCME reach tentative
on contract terms
By ELEONORA DI LISCIA
Washtenaw County Circuit Court
Judge Benjamin Stanczyk handed down
a final decision yesterday afternoon to
set aside a portion of the Kimberly
Woods under the Michigan Environ-
mental Protection Act. The area con-
cerns 18 acres of woodland located on
Packard and Gladstone.
The Kimberly Woods, situated in the
Third Ward, had been considered by its
developers Patricia and Harry Dion as
the site for a potential housing complex
consisting of 68 single family units and
12 duplexes. Several residents objected
to this proposal, since it would destroy
the natural area and the case wastaken
to court.
ACCORDING TO resident Lex
Thursday
" Mayoral candidates Louis
Belcher and Jamie Kenworthy
offered their views on Ann Ar-
bor's budget deficit as well as the
city's housing problems in a
stimulating debate yesterday at
the Daily offices. See story,-Page
5.
-rr-
**ad the Toder
column, Pe. 3
Grapentine, Judge Stanczyk ha set
aside an area of about five acres in the
northwest portion of the land. This area
will include four acres to be set aside as
a natural preserve and breeding ground
for pheasants. Within these four acres
is a seasonal pond. Three wildlife
corridors of about 6,000 square feet
each have been set aside and will add
another acre to the four already being
preserved.
In these areas, the developers can do
nothing to disturb the land. In the nor-
thern nine acres, the developers cannot
build any fences, or concrete or asphalt
driveways.
Grapentine indicated that the neigh-
borhood, was pleased with the judge's
decision. "Our feelings are one of vin-
dication. We are impressed by the
judge's willingness to tackle a very
tough issue in terms of applying the
Michigan Environmental Act to a very
small area within the city limits. We're
pleased with the decision but we realize
the battle is not yet won."
ACCORDING TO Grapentine, Mayor
Louis Belcher had asked "as of two
days ago, what more he could do to help
us. We intend to take the judge's
decision to him and ask him to help fine-
tune the details such as where the
corridors will lie."
The decision may be a landmark one,
Grapentine said, since it represents the
first attempt to use the Michigan En-
vironmental Act on a parcel of land in-
See COURT, Page 6
Egypt condemns U.S.
assurances
WASHINGTON (Reuter) - Egypt
has sharply condemned assurances
which the United States gave Israel
following the signing of the Israeli-
Egyptian peace treaty and said it would
regard them as null and void.
Prime Minister Mustapha Khalil said
the assurances, contained in a
document signed on Monday by
Secretary of State Cyrus Vance and
Israeli Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan,
were a source of grave concern to
Egypt.
IN TWO LETTERS to Vance dated
last Sunday and Monday, Khalil said
the U.S. commitments to Israel were
exceedingly dangerous and tampered
seriously with the peace treaty.
The letters were made available to
reporters just hours before the
scheduled departure of President An-
war Sadat from Washington.
His second letter concluded: ". . . the
government of Egypt will not recognize
the legality of the memorandum and
o Israel
considers it null and void and as having
no effect whatsoever so far as Egypt is
concerned."
THE MEMORANDUM was published
the same day as the peace treaty and
states that the United States would con-
sider even increasing its military
presence in the region should there be a
violation of the peace treaty.
"I would like to state that the conten-
ts of' the proposed memorandum will
have a direct bearing on the peace
treaty," the same letter said.
"I want you to know that we were
deeply disappointed to find the United
States accepting to enter into an
agreement we consider directed again-
st Egypt. The memorandum does not
serve any useful purpose. On the con-
trary, its contents and purport would
adversely affect the whole process of
peace and stability in the area."
KHALIL SAID he first learned of the
memorandum just 24 hours before the
signing ceremony on Monday.
PAC members committed
to progressive platform
Daily Photo by ANDY FREEBERG
UNIVERSITY Regent Sarah Power addresses a group at Rackham yester-
day on international news flow, while husband Phil looks on. See story,
Page 2.j
Weiss sues Ann Arbor-
says he was illegally fired
By JULIE ENGEBRECHT
Second in a five-part series
The People's Action Coalition (PAC)
has combined with the Black Students
Union (BSU) this year to form a party
with a progressive political philosophy.
PAC is offering voters 24 candidates,
-n < t f 1 Ar Y*h !Ai~< < 11<f
elected from the PAC party and other
PAC members are involved in PAC-
sponsored workshops, speakers, dorm
projects, and have organized a radical
library. Members are also involved in
other outside organizations including
By ELISA ISAACSON
Former City Clerk Jerome Weiss -
removed from that position by City
Administrator Sylvester Murray last
May - has filed suit in a federal district
court against Murray, Mayor Louis
for a period of 24 hours before filing
with that officer a statement of reason
and intent.
MURRAY HAD said, upon Weiss'
firing last year, that "this was a
decision by me solely . ..neither dic-
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