%6
The
Ann Arbor,
Michigan Daily
Volume LXXXIX, No. 10-S
Tuesday, May 15, 1979
Sixteen Pages
JI
Michiqan
Ten C-ents
U.S.-Sino trade
pact initialed
CANTON, China (AP)-Commerce The trade agreement was initialed
Secretary Juanita Kreps and Chinese here by Kreps after it was flown 1,200
Trade Minister Li Qiang (Li Chiang) miles from Peking, where Li initialed it
yesterday initialed a broad, and earlier.
complex trade agreement which one "Today marks a major step on the
U.S. negotiator called "good, fair, and way to full normalization of our
hard-nosed." economic relations," she said.
The agreement, if signed and ap- "IT IS A continuation of the momen-
proved by Congress, will open the way tum generated by Vice Premier Deng
to full economic relations between the Xiaoping (Deng Hsiao-ping) and
nations after a 30-year hiatus. President Carter earlier this year ..."
It provides most-favored nation Chen Jie, China's vice trade minister,
treatment for both and smoothes the said at the ceremony here: "I am sure
way for China to receive U.S. Export- that the success of the initialing of the
Import bank credits. trade agreement will bring a fruitful
COMMERCE DEPARTMENT of- result in the future signing of the final
ficials said they would not submit the trade accord."
trade agreement to Congress until a "I think we have a good, fair
pending textile agreement is signed. See U.S., Page 2
Kennedy announces
new health
WASHINGTON (AP) - Sen. Edward
Kennedy, (D-Mass.), announced
yesterday his plan to insure all
Americans against health care costs,
but acknowledged that congressional
resistance makes passage "an uphill
battle."
Kennedy and other backers of his
national health insurance plan, in-
cluding leaders of labor unions,
organizations for the retired, and
This year's model ... AP Photo
A California biker rides through Santa Monica traffic while those who use gas to
fuel their vehicles wait in line.
care plan
minority groups, called upon the ad-
ministration to throw its weight behind
the proposal which would cover all
Americans regardless of age or in-
come.
"We are appealing to President Car-
ter to come in from the cold," Bill Hut-
ton, head of the National Council of
Senior Citizens, told a news conference
called to unveil Kennedy's bill.
CARTER WANTS a more modest
health care plan that would phase in
segments of the population while at fir-
st protecting the elderly, the poor, and
those suffering from catastrophic
illnesses.
"The American health care system is
now strained to the breaking point by
runaway costs," said Kennedy, who is
chairman of the Senate Human
Resources subcommittee on health. He
said his proposal "is the best chance to
avoid national bankruptcy and to bring
spiraling health costs under control."
Both Kennedy and his chief co-
See AMA, Page 8
WARNING CAME A YEAR AGO:
Three Mile
WASHINGTON (AP)-The reactor
manufacturer and federal regulators
were warned a year ago that an in-
strument involved in the Three Mile
Island accident was unreliable for
checking the level of cooling water in
the reactor core, according to
documents obtained by the Associated
Press.
But the warning was largely ignored
and that operators of the Babcock &
Wilcox-built reactors were allowed to
believe they could depend on the in-
strument to check water levels, said
sources investigating the nuclear reac-
tor accident.
BABCOK & WILCOX, a Virginia-
based engineering firm, built the now-
crippled reactor near Harrisburg, Pa.,
as well as nine other reactors now tem-
porarily closed for further safety
checks.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission
(NRC) has said the instrument, a
pressurizer level indicator, misled an
operator into turning off an emergency
cooling system. The operator believed
the pressure registered by the gauge-
meant there was too much water in the
reactor core, when in fact the core was
getting far too little water.
instrument
That move has been cited as a major
reason for water dropping below the
tops of the fuel rods for nearly an hour
on the day of the accident and allowing
extensive heat damage to the rods. Sin-
ce the accident, the NRC has told
operators at all the nation's commer-
cial reactors not to rely on the
pressurizer level gauge alone to deter-
unreliable
mine core water levels.
BUT ACCORDING to the documents
obtained by the AP, a nuclear con-
sultant came to the same conclusion
and reported it more than a year ago,
following a year-long study on the con-
sequences of small breaks in reactor
cooling systems.
See THREE, Page 8
OIL EXECUTIVE CLAIMS:
Myths prevent energy crisis solution
By VICKI HENDERSON
False assumptions about the energy
crisis hamper the United States' ability
to deal with the problem, said the vice-
president of a leading U.S. oil company
at an Energy Information Forum and
Workshop for Educators at the
Michigan League Friday and Saturday.
Phillips Petroleum Company's
Executive Vice-President and Director
Charles Kittrell said before an audience
of around 25 journalists, the energy
crisis "is for real. Any rational, well-
read person has to believe it."
COAL, KITTIELL added, is an
abundant resource in this country, but
economic and environmental problems
exist with its use. "Much of our coal
comes from strip-mining," he said, ad-
ding that the emission from burning
coal is not as clean as that of natural
gas. Kittrell said converting to
refineries is expensive, but "if the
economics are there, industries will do
it."
According to Kittrell, the United
States imports half its oil, and the
Organization of Petroleum Exporting
Countries (OPEC), influences these
imports. He said Saudi Arabia
produces 8.5 million barrels of oil a day,
See MYTHS, Page 2