CAPITAL PUNISHMENT See editorial page tAIt Wtan Eighty-Nine Years of Editorial Freedom iiiaiti ADAMANT High--670 Low-43o See Today for details 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