The Michigan Daily Edited and managed by Students at the University of Michigan Friday, August 8, 1975 News Phone: 764-0552 Risks outweigh rewards HE ENERGY DEBACLE has haunted and confounded federal administrators and industry leaders for several years now. Apparently, the pressuresof maintaining con- sumption rates in the face of depleting conventional energy resources has moved the nation's planners to set out across a nuclear power gamut that could well threaten the health and possibly delimit the number of future generations. The national blueprint for expanding nuclear plants -present government plans call for upping the number of plants from 55 to 830 by the year 2000--reflects both a dangerous vulnerability to the traditional demands of continuous growth economy and a callous disregard for some of the nation's. most reputable scientists who have vainly warned against and documented the dangers of nuclear power. This week, in fact, a group of 2,300 members of the American scientific community placed their names on a petition asking the government to severely curtail re- actor construction until formidable safety factors have been adequately dealt with. While the administration hurries ahead with its plans for staking the nation's eiergies needs to fisson power, the scientist group (including nine Nobel laureates) has taken time to point out three major danger areas they find implicit in the expansion program: " Reactor safety. The petition notes that the "record to date evidences many malfunctions of major equip- ment, operator errors and design defects as well as a continuing weakness in the quality control practices with which nuclear plants are constructed;" * Radioactive waste disposal. The scientists claim no "technically or economically feasible methods have yet been proven for ultimate disposal of radioactive waste- a grim legacy from the nuclear program to future genera- tions;" and r Insufficient control of nuclear materials. "Various studies carried out by the government," the petition claims, "as well as outside reviewers, point up to multiple weaknesses in safeguard procedures intended to prevent the theft or diversion of commercial reactor-produced plutonium for use in illicit nuclear explosives or radio- logical terror weapons." IF THE FOLKS in Washington learned anything from recent national blunders-Watergate, Vietnam, Nixon- omics-it should be that no major program should be implemented until its future repercussions have been gauged and deemed tolerable. This is clearly not the case for nuclear power. ALL 'E PR eietsrWt MON -1975 ai&~ 'a veeicasa f-mc% ,ft n*A / ali .- Letters to The Daily science sults of this lack of knowledge are evident to almost anyone who even occasionally reads a To the Daily: newspaper or views television. IN RECENT YEARS, various ITSMAFE EDith elements of the public, includ- . IT IS MANIFESTED in shes ing prominent citizens and pub- rise of the occult sciences," lic officials, have developed an genuine belief in the uninhibit- increasingly hostile attitude to-ed speculations of books like ward science in general, and Chariots of the Gods and tihe technological progress in par- Secret Life of Plants, and the ticular. We feel that, contrary tendency opolitical officials to to these ideas, science and tech- chop down scientific research nological progress can exist for whenever posible. When a Un- the benefit of man, and that ted Slates Senator can mate a to deny the intellectual need for statement on national television progress is definitely nt in any-thtnsceewadoe n one's best interest. Apollo-Soyuz (an utterly false Many presently developing statement), and not be laughed trends are indicative, not only of out of his Senate seat, we feel an anti-scientific attitude, b u t there is a serious problem. also of a growing distrust of in- The ill feeling between the tellectualism. lay world and the world of sci- We feel many of these atti- ence, it seems, arises from the tudes have their foundation in inability of the general pop- a general lack of basic scienti- ulace to defer satisfaction/vin- fic knowledge. Some of the re- dication to some future date. ~sasThe Lighter Sid ,T eLg t rSdPresidential tim ber too often concealed By DICK WEST WASHINGTON (UPI)-A number of Republicans who just a short while ago were entertaining thoughts of running for President no longer are hosts to such notions. Sen. Howard Baker of Tennessee, for example, was downright rude to his'White House aspirations, pretending he had never met them socially. Behind this inhospitable ,behavior is the recent emergence of President Ford as a strong enough candidate to discourage chal- lengers. Now entering his second year as chief executive, Ford enjoys his highest standing yet in the pre-1976 campaign polls. WHICH SUGGESTS that something is wrong with our political system. I don't mean that Ford hasn't proven himself a capable national leader and all-around jolly good fellow. He has, he has. And that is precisely why we should be having second thoughts about our political processes. Fordhas been around a long time.tThe qualities that now impress the electorate must have been there all along. Yet you know and I know that he was never previously considered presi- dential timber. IT TOOK a bizarre chain of coincidences, unprecedented in American history, to land him in the Oval Office. But if the circumstances of his ascension were unique, the rest is a familiar story. Harry Truman was never a contender until FIDR's death thrust the presidency upon him. Then he not only won in his own right but is now being hailed in both parties as one of the all time greats. IT LIKEWISE is unlikely that Lyndon Johnson ever would have made it had not tragedy struck his predecessor. After that, the electorate that originally spurned him gave him one of the biggest landslides in history. The lesson, thus, is clear. Our political process as presently operated has serious blind spots. Someone who is potentially the best president we ever had may be out there somewhere, waiting to have his or her attributes recognized. But barring another weird sequence of events such as finally put Ford is a position to be appreciated, our Mr. Right may never come along. Part of the blame, I'll admit, rests with journalists who serve as presidential mentioners. The average citizen, caught up in his daily pursuits, can't be expected to spot political diamonds in the rough. He must choose. 'his favorites from among the politicians being mentioned in the press as prospective candidates. All too often, alas, the mentioners fail to come up with worthy mentionees. What is needed, I think, is a National Mentioning Board to canvass the country for outstanding political unknowns and point them out to the public. Those who receive enough support would then become bona- fide candidates for President. The rest would' receive Honorable Mention. Again, to take an example very recently in the news, many peo- ple ask, what is the value of our space program? Where is our tax money going? Isn't it wasted? WITHOUT NASA and outer space research and develop- ment, we would be without solid state electronics, without wire- less biomedical information transfer, without laser, without knowledge of "the final fron- tier." SOCIAL PROGRAMS are sought and subsidized in pre- ference to basic research sim- ply because of the shortterm benefits which are accrued b u t soon dissipated. Science is work toward the future to better the present. Its :benefits, w h e r e they occur, are permanent; its potential to benefit is unlimit- ed. We are in favor of science and technology and feel they have much to offer. Unfortun- ately, they can also have disas- trous effects, and we are long past the time when scientists can operate in a vacuum, obliv- ious to their social responsibil- ity. For this very reason, we view the increasing anti-science at- titude with great alarm, as we feel it will lead to a world where the disastrous effects prolifer- ate, as people become more steeped in fantasy, and have even less scientific perspective with which to judge events in this area. We hope in some way to help increase science literacy and demonstrate that many as- pects of scientific pro res are indispensible to eve,yone's growth and development. We encourage your comments and solicit the aid of any per- sons interested in ioinin our fledgling organization. Please direct your comments and/or requests for information to the following address: Association for Scientific Knowledgee (ASK) 2260 Fuller Rd., Apt. 22 Ann Arbor, Mi.4 8105 -Perry Clark Jay Shayevitz Sue Shayevit August 7 third degree To the Daily: I WRITE this letter in ques- tion to your front page article on Thursday, August 7, entitled "FBI questions Hoffa's adopted son". I realize, of course, that this story was brought to your at- tention by the experienced work- ers ofthe Ass iated Pres. However, you must do some proof reading of these stories even if they are sent in by a reputable agency with the likes of the Associated Press. I am very aware of the pow- ers of our Federal Bureau of Investigation. However, I stil find it almost beyond the pow- ers of one of the most power- ful and respected investigating agencies in the world to have (and I quote) ". . . questioned by the FBI for 3 years yester- day at a local union hall." If I am mistaken in question- ing this period of interrogation, please *cept my deepest apol- ogies. -Michael Jones August 7 Letters should be typed and limited to 400 words. The Daily reserves the right to edit letters for length and grammar