100%

Scanned image of the page. Keyboard directions: use + to zoom in, - to zoom out, arrow keys to pan inside the viewer.

Page Options

Download this Issue

Share

Something wrong?

Something wrong with this page? Report problem.

Rights / Permissions

This collection, digitized in collaboration with the Michigan Daily and the Board for Student Publications, contains materials that are protected by copyright law. Access to these materials is provided for non-profit educational and research purposes. If you use an item from this collection, it is your responsibility to consider the work's copyright status and obtain any required permission.

June 02, 1979 - Image 10

Resource type:
Text
Publication:
Michigan Daily, 1979-06-02

Disclaimer: Computer generated plain text may have errors. Read more about this.

Page 10-Saturday, June 2, 1979--The Michigan Daily
'U' to dump nuclear waste in Nevada

By TIM YAGLE
Officials from university laboratories
and nuclear reactors around the coun-
try have become increasingly concer-
ned over the storage and disposal of
nuclear waste.
But even though the disposal site for
waste from the University's nuclear
reactor on North Campus recently was
closed, University officials said they
are not worried about finding'a new site
to dump radioactive material.
GARY COOK, assistant reactor
manager for the Ford Nuclear Reactor
at Phoenix Memorial Laboratories on
North Campus, said radioactive waste,
until recently, had been sent to South
Carolina. But becasue of a new
regulation that site has closed its lan-
dfill to the type ofmaterial sent by the
University.
Cook said waste from the Univer-
sity's reactor now will be sent to Beat-
ty, Nev., the nearest licensed burial site
for radioactive waste.
According to the University's
Radiation Control Service (RCS) Direc-
tor Arthur Solari, RCS packages the
liquid waste containing "low levels of
radiation" in 55-gallon steel barrels
called "scintillation vessels." The
Atomic Disposal Co. of Tinley, Ill., then
trucks the barrels to the licensed burial
site.
Michael Finnigan, assistant director
of marketing for Chem-Nuclear
Systems, Inc., said the Barnwell site in
South Carolina was closed to scin-
tillation vessels because "the state
determined that organic solvents posed
You can play
this game any
way you want to
and never win
Billiards
at the UNION
OPEN 7 DAYS

more of a problem than solids. Organic
solvents have a faster rate of leakage
into water."
FOR THIS REASON, Solari said,
"We don't have any other choice" but to
haul the waste to Nevada.
Finnigan said few people want
nuclear disposal sites near them and
for this reason, there are only three
licensed burial w sites in the U.S.
However, Finnigan said the waste is so
harmless that "I'd feel safer sitting on
that disposal site than a lot of other
places."
Finnigan, who has worked at Chem-
Nuclear Systems, Inc. for eight years,
said the vials are buried into carefully
designed trenches 22 feet drop, 50 to 100
feet wide, and 500 to 1,000 feet long.
They are lined with "good hard clay"
which Finnigan said prevents the
radiation from leaking into water sup-
plies.
HE SAID THE trenches in Barnwell,
S.C., are "nowhere near" water sup-
plies for the townspeople. The state
controls the Barnwell site and it is also
subject to federal regulations.
Finnigan also said licenses are "very
hard to.get" because the land for the
disposal site must meet strict federal
specifications.

CHEM-NUCLEAR also uses sample,
tubes submerged in the trenches to
measure radiation output, Finnigan
said. He added they also monitor
radiation evaporation which has never
approached a dangerous level.
Finnigan said people live near the
site and "are totally pleased with it."
Chem-Nuclear charges a base price
of $3.60 per cubic foot of waste with sur-
charges for excess weight and radioac-.
tivity. Finnigan said the price is not
regulated by the federal government.
Part of the revenue is sent to the state
and "used for lerpetual care of the
site," he added.
SOLARI SAID most of the waste sent
to disposal sites comes from
laboratories at the University Medical
Center. He said that out of an estimated
40 barrels of waste hauled per month,
only "one or two" come from the
Phoenix Memorial Laboratory.
Solari also said the waste contains
only a small amount of radiation. "(Of)
everything we send out, the amount of
radiation could fill a coffee cup with
plenty of room (to spare)."
Solari said the University paid $30,000
per year to have the barrels transpor-
ted to RCS's former site in South

Carolina. But since that site is no longer
accepting vials, Solari said it will cost
more to truck the waste to the Nevada
site, although he is uncertain of the new
cost.
NEW ENGLAND medical centers
and universities expect the South
Carolina site closing to force a hike in
their shipping costs of up to 50 per cent,
said George Holeman, director of Yale
University's Physics Department, ac-
cording to a recent article in "The
Chronicle of Higher Education."
"The federal agencies seem to be in-
sensitive to this problem," Holeman
said. "It is difficult to solve it in-
dividually."
Roger Granlund, health physicist at
Penn State University, said the best
method of disposing of the waste is in-
cineration. He said during incineration
the chemical hazard is much greater
than the radiation hazard.
COOK SAID incineration of liquid
waste is "not a good way to do it. If you
don't control the vapor, you don't know
what you're spreading around (in the
atmosphere.)" But, Cook admitted that
"burning it is a more economical way
to do it."

CHALLENGES MILLIKEN'S STANCE:

Judge rules
LANSING (UPI) - The state may
not pay for a welfare abortion unless it
is deemed necessary by a doctor, an
Ingham County Circuit Court judge
ruled late yesterday.
The suit was brought by two state
lawmakers and a Michigan Citizens for
Life, which argued the legislature's will
was being subverted by the continued
use of tax dollars for abortions, since
lawmakers repeatedly had voted
against welfare abortions.
They also claimed that abortions are
elective medical procedures and not a
mandatory health care service which
the state is obliged to fund.
JUDGE JACK Warren said the state

against welfare abortion
cannot pay for welfare abortions unless ing the procedure isrequired.
they are deemed necessary by a doctor. IN THE MEDICAID budget approved
Warren said Gov. William Milliken ex last fall, state lawmakers prohibited
ceeded his constitutional authority when the use of state funds for welfare abor-
he vetoed a clause in the state Medicaid tions. That clause, however, was
budget which would have prohibited the stricken by Milliken through use of his
continued use of welfare money for "line item veto" power.
abortions. Although state officials had not
Warren, however, did-not interpret examined the judge's ruling when con-
the word "required," apparently tacted late yesterday, it was apparent
leaving the way open for physicians to Warren's ruling reinstated the restric-
set the criteria. tive, anti-abortion language stricken by
"I'M ELATED," said Sen. John the governor.
Welborn,.(R-Kalamazoo), one of the An appeal is expected.
plcintiffsinthe case. WARREN'S DECISION yesterday
"Im really happy about the court was a turnabout from a ruling he issued
de::ision by Judge Warren - one, last November 20.
because I feel very strongly on the right At that time, Warren refused to order
to life issue ... Of equal importance is a halt to welfare abortions, as had been
the constitutional question, which I felt requested by Welborn and Rep. Thad-
very strongly on." deus Stopczynski (D-Detroit).
Warren said the Department of Social He said state lawmakers, as the elec-
Services cannot permit the continued ted representatives of the people,
use of Medicaid dollars for abortions should have made its voice heard
unless a doctor signs a certificate, say- earlier.
'U' refuses to re leas
name-linked salary data

HFREDC COCK'$ SECRET AGENT "436
This interesting thriller by the master of suspense was unavailable just a
couple years ago. Starring a fantastic cast including PETER LORRE, MADELEINE
CARROLL, JOHN GIELGUD, ROBERT YOUNG 8 MICHAEL REDGRAVE, it con-
cerns a novelist lately turned spy who completes an assignment to kill,
enemy agent. Or would have, except secret agent Richard Ashendon had
the wrong man under suspicion. Predictably sticky encounters with on enemy
holed up in a Swiss chocolate factory. "We use lakes for drowning and the
Alps to have our characters fall into crevasses."-Hitchcock, from Truffaut
interview.
Sun: Valentino in SON OF THE SHEIK (Free at 8)
CINEMA GUILD 7:&TONIGHT OLD ARCH AUD
The Ann Arbor Film Coopeative presents at MLB 3
$1.50 SATURDAY, JUNE 2
ERASERHEAD
(David Lynch, 1977) 7T& 10:20-MLB 3
This bizarre film has been playing to packed midnight audiences in New
York since its release. A coherent plot description is nearly impossible, but ,
it suffices to say that director Lynch has created a true cinematic rarity: an
original work that seemingly has no antecedents in the horror genre. "The
special effects are simply extraordinary. I am not easily given to overstate.
ment. See this thing."-David Bartholomew, CINEFANTASTIQUE.
I CHANGED MY SEX
(Edward Wood, 1953) 8:40 only-MLB 3
Also known as GLEN or GLENDA, this is one of the funniest and most bizarre
films ever made. The marvelous camp antics of Bela Lugosi highlight this
recently discovered classic. Screenwriter David (BONNIE AND CLYDE) New-
man claims, "I CHANGED MY SEX makes EL TOPO and ROCKY HORROR and
all the rest of them look like a Sunday School picnic."
Tuesday: Free showing of Hawks' RED RIVER,
and RIO BRAVO

(Continued from Page 1)
office to tell them the University would
send Hart the limited list on Monday.-
He admitted he did not specify that the
information would not include salaries
listed by name as the committee had
requested.
Six universities have complied with
Hart's request, and according to
Schnetzler, three more - including the
University - plan to give information
to the committee Monday. Four schools
- Ferris State College, Central
Michigan University, Michigan
Technological University, and Wayne
State University - have not complied
or said they would comply with the
request for salary information by
name.
SCHNETZLER SAID she will call
these schools Monday and ask for in-
formation. In an earlier interview,

Schnetzler had said she did not know
what action the committee will take if
the certain universities fail to comply
with the request, and said she was un-
sure whether the schools could be for-
ced to release name-linked salary data.
The University did not send personal
salay information primarily because
it is our policy not to release such in-
formation to anyone except the
President and Chancellors (of the
University)," said Smith. In the past,
the University has refused to release
salary information by name to the
public on the grounds that it would be
an invasion of the staff's personal
privacy.
The Regents were not consulted in the
decision, Smith said. He had said
earlier it would be a matter of "regen-
tal policy" if the University were to
release name-linked data to the state.

Back to Top

© 2024 Regents of the University of Michigan