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.