I MMOMMMON" Eighty-Seven Years of Editorial Freedom 420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Nuclear power grave threat to healthyhuman existence Tuesday, September 21, 1976 News Phone: 764-0552 Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan ieria IndianDay?' By HARVEY WASSERMAN Last of a Four-Part Series GOVERNOR WILLIAM MILLIKEN has declared September 24 as "American Indian Day" in Michigan. Said Milliken, "All aspects of the Na- tive American's existence - agricul- tural, government, trade, religion, art and economics - influenced the white man at one time or another and helped shape the destiny of ev- ery nation in the Western Hemis- phere." Now we realize; do you get the impression that maybe we're just a little bit s-l-o-w? Somebody surely is, but enough of that. What's done is done, the past is the past - but proclaiming an "American Indian Day" holds no substance unless some positive moves are made to improve the lot of one of this country's most oppressed minorities. The Native American, however many are left in this country of ours, Editorial Staff Milliken Rob Meachum................. Co-Editors-in-Chief Bill Turque Jeff Ristine.................. Managing Editor Tim Schick.Executive Editor Stephen Hersh...............Magazine Editor Rob Meachum........Editorial Director Lois Josimovich.E.Arts Editor STAFF WRITERS: Susan Ades, Dana Bauman, Michael Beckman, Dana Bauman,James Burns, Jodi Dimick, Elaine Fletcher, Mark Friedlander, Tom Godell, Kurt Harju, Charlotte Heeg, Rich- ard James, Tom Kettler, Chris Kochmanski, Atephen Kursnman, Jay Le~vin, Ann Marie Lip- inski, George Lobsenz, Pauline Lubens, Ter Maneau, Maureen Nolan, Mike Norton, Jon Pansius, Kim Potter, Cathy Reutter, Ann Marie Schiavi, Karen Schulkins, Jeff Selbst, Rock Sobel, Tom Stevens, Steve Stofic, Cathi Suyak, Jim Tobin, Jim Valk, Margaret Yao, Andrew Zerman. Sports Staff Bill Stieg ......................... Sports Editor Rich Lerner ........... Executive Sports Editor Andy Glazer............ Managing Sports Editor Rick Bonino.............Associate Sports Editor NIGHT EDITORS: Tom Cameron, Enid Goldman, Kathy Henneghan, Scott Lewis, Rick Maddock, Bob Miller, John Niemeyer, Mark Whitney. STAFF WRITERS: Leslie Brown, Paul Campbell, Marybeth Dillon, Ernie Dunbar, Henry Engel- hardt, Jeff Frank, Cindy Gatziolis, Don Mac- Lachlan, Rich Ovshinsky, Jim Powers, Pat Rode, John Schwartz. Business Staff Beth Friedman.......Business, Manager Deborah Dreyfuss.........Operations Manager Kathleen Mulhern ........ Advertising Manager David Harlan ................. Finance Manager Dan Blugerman................Sales Manager Pete Peterson...........Advertising Coordinator Cassie St. Clair ............ Circulation Manager Beth Stratford..............Circulation Director Photography Staff PAULINE LUBENS ......... . . Chief Photographer SCOTT ECCKER ............ Staff Photographer ALAN BILINSKY.............Staff Photographer can now rejoice in such resognition as provided by the gracious governor. They can now sit back on the reser- vation and swig some whisky and do a little philosophizing - all with the knowledge that Great White Master Milliken is looking out for their wel- fare. They can now appreciate what they've done for America, alright, and appreciate what America has done for them. INSTEAD OF American Indian Day, there should be an American Ignor- amus Day, to throw much needed light on all the stupid, bullheaded, greedy, unconcerned, blind, incor- rigible mental munchkins that pass- ed for gentlemen and gentlewomen in the days of the Wild West, when "savages" were considered a disgust- Ing fource to be severely reckoned with. Back to the subject at hand, how- ever. We find that not much has changed; Native Americans are still getting the shaft, those who haven't been "Americanized," but that doesn't really seem to matter anymore. What does matter is that we Insist at attempting gracious divinity by nroclaiming "American Indian Day". Let's do away with such silly holi- davs that tend to remind that the past was glorious - which it wasn't- snd concentrate instead on never al- lowing such things as the cruel re- nrecsion of the Native American to ever hannen again. Editorial positions represent a consensus of the Daily staff. TODAY'S STAFF: News: George Lobsenz, Jeff Ristine, Tim Schick Editorial Page: Rob Meachum, Keith Richburg, Tom Stevens Arts Page: Lois Josimovich Photo Technician: Pauline Lubens WHEN NUCLEAR POWER was first being promoted in this country, de- velopers advertised that it would eventu- ally be "too cheap to meter." Unfortunately, it hasn't worked that way. In fact, there are now serious ques- tions about whether or not nuclear pow- er plants will ever repay their capital investment, let alone produce cheap elec- tricity. Soaring material, construction, and fuel costs combined with stagger- ing inefficiency and unreliability have made nuclear power plants an extreme- ly questionable investment. Environmental Costs In years past Americans have as- sumed that the natural environment has no money value. Air, water and land have been polluted at will, with no cost accounting for such details as dead birds, devastated eco-systems and a world full of cancer-causing pollutants. Now, however, the true costs are be- ginning to dawn. In the case of nuclear power, they are particularly important. ALL NUCLEAR PLANTS use gigantic quantities of water for cooling. The water is taken from lakes, rivers and the ocean, funnelled around the core, and returned to the environment significant- ly hotter than it went in. This process has violently disrupted many marine eco- systems, resulted in massive fish kills, and bringing on disasterous environmen- tal skewing. Some nuclear promoters have argued that the introduction of hot water can improve fish yields and promote marine growth, but even at that plants have operated so unreliably that the real effect has been a hot-cold- hot-cold syndrome that is a powerful destroyer of environmental balance. In addition, many plants are equipped with cooling towers that throw off huge quantities of steam, steam that will al- most certainly result in severe unbal- ancing of weather patterns. Furthermore, many operators treat the steam with chemicals geared to prevent the growth of algae in the towers. The chemicals do the job but are then spread into the environment to join the rest of the chemical residues in defacing the land- scape. ALL THAT ADDS UP TO a deteriora- tion of the environment whose money costs are impossible to calculate, but which must ultimately be quite signifi- cant in terms of agricultural deficien- cies, health problems and, of course, the degradation of life itself. Nukes Don't Pay On a more mundane dollars- and- cents level, nuclear plants are proving to be an economic disaster. A general rule of thumb has been that nuclear plants must generate at 80% capacity for 10 years just to pay back their in- itial capital investment. American plants have operated significantly below that 80% figure ever since they started. Late- ly the industry has been toying with the basic figures, but the fact remains that as of now the performance level of nuclear plants has been miserable. In addition, the required initial in- vestment has been soaring. Material costs have been rising at a minimum of 10% per year. Delays, unexpected cost hikes and a myriad of other prob- lems have combined to push the price of a nuclear kilowatt into the range of $800, nearly twice the cost of con- structing coal-fired plants today. The cost of nuclear construction is expect- ed to soon reach the $1,000/kilowatt level and some think it may go as high as $1,500. AT THOSE PRICES, natural. energy is cost competitive with nuclear right now. A Uranium Crisis? There is the additional problem with fuel. Uranium is a tightly monopolized commodity, and its price has been doub- ling every year. It is not expected to go down, or even to level off in the near future. Nor is the preparation for use being simplified. That famous ad where you see a small pellet of uranium lined up against six coal cars is a gross decep- tion. It costs billions to build enrich- ment plants, and the process of pre- paring uranium for use in a nuclear reactor is phenominally expensive and increasingly difficult to manage. In fact there is real question as to whether enrichment facilities will be able to keep ip with demand. Westinghouse recent- ly defaulted on an across-the-board pledge to provide nuclear fuel, and the future of enriched uranium is not prom- ising. Natural Energy Now What all that adds up to is the fact that nuclear-generated electricity is ex- pensive is some cases far more expen- sive that hydro, coal and even oil sourc- es. And the prospects are that it will go up in price for a long time before it dips, if it ever does. BECAUSE OF THEIR dubious eco- nomics, nuclear projects have been de- layed and cancelled all across the coun- try. The solution for the nuclear indus- try has been to turn to the Federal government for subsidies. Now the question arises as to wheth- er such a grotesque assault on our health, our environment and our econ- omy is necessary. Despite a well-financed campaign to the contrary, solar, wind,tidal and geo- thermal energy are ready now to move on line in this country. They are all within range of nuclear cost-efficiency, and could be developed if the money were taken out of nuclear and resched- uled into natural. In addition,rit is long since time that Americans came to grips with the fact that they are energy hogs. We are 6% of the world's population consum- ing 33% of its energy. There is tre- mendous waste and gluttony in our en- ergy budget. In 1974 a Ford Foundation Report showed that with minimal con- servation efforts, the U.S. could cut its energy consumption growth rate in half, thus eliminating the "need" for nuclear power plants. A simple measure like recycling bottles can result in enormous other conservation efforts, undercut the entire nuclear sales pitch. The United States is rich and comfortable enough to afford - if necessary - a period of zero energy growth while nuclear power plants are phased out and natural energy generators phased in. SUCH A PROGRAM would create millions of additional jobs and would place the United States economy on an infinitely healthier and more reliable footing. Natural energy is labor-inten- sive rather than capital-intensive, and is posited on a fuel that is inexhausti- ble and free. Indeed, that latter attribute is nat- ural energy's most serious barrier. The powerful corporate interests that have invested billions in nuclear technology as well as coal, gas and oil - have a very clear interest in maintaining the system on scarce fuel that they can control and centrallize. Until Exxon and Bechtel find a way to charge us for using the sun and wind, they can be counted on to fight natural energy all the way. The real barriers to a natural-based energy economy in America are not technological. There are enough patents buried in corporate files, and enough dis- coveries gone wanting for proper fund- ing, to put have put this country into onto a sun-wind-tidal-geothermal basis long ago. NUCLEAR PLANTS may soon price themselves into extinction. But that can be guaranteed only by a grass roots movement capable of block- ing Federal subsidies, imposing the nec- essary building standards, and making the ultimate correlations between envi- romental destruction and corporate profits. The issues of nuclear power may seem complex on the surface. But at the core they are old stand- bys. Big company arrogance versus real human need. Profits versus people. You don't need General Electric to know which way the wind blows. energy savings that, in concert with ASO I 5f6{ 0o. H1R KU- RT dQT vQ RrU6 To IX WI.TH lffE FUME , Rk PIOACRv'- &- S of{THE 55-CA IT- L L AK(o & FROM THES THEAIRPOT-. - Qo ~)C -6AQ RXA)&R-~ALIT... 7 ARm ZaI DES AT woPt. FEW ki A % M~{SkiCf AMP 2A VO(CE FROM { {E TOcW)- U R OF THO F10c61W&) \Y AM"L TO UPMA: Ak)P a vO(C6 FROM A CLOUDVL2 IfRD (r;, my SON!I