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Page 2 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, January 18, 1984
Reactor costs soar report says
WASHINGTON (AP) - The nuclear
industry, shaken by the cancellation of
one power plant and the government's
refusal to license another, got more bad
news yesterday with a government
report showing three-fourths of the
nation's reactors have cost at least
double what was promised.
The Energy Department's Energy In-
formation Administration said the final
construction costs for 77 percent of the
plants now operating were at least
double the pre-construction estimates.
IN 28 PERCENT of the cases, the
agency said, the final cost was more
than four times the original estimate.
The EIA, an independent agency
within the department, blamed the in-
creased price tags primarily on in-
flation, skyrocketing interest rates and
construction costs, and long building
delays.
In 1971, for example, utilities were
estimating it would take them only four
years to build a nuclear plant. Now,
they say the average construction
period is 14 years.
THE REPORT, coupled with other
developments within the past week,
raised new questions about the fate of
some of the other 48 reactors under
construction around the country.
Last Friday, a Nuclear Regulatory
Commission licensing panel, citing
quality control failures, refused to
grant an operating permit for Com-
monwealth Edison Co.'s nearly com-
pleted $3.35 billion twin-reactor Byron
plant in Illinois.
On Monday, bowing to pressure from
state officials, Public Service Co. of In-
diana abandoned efforts'to complete its
twin-reactor Marble Hill plant after
having sunk $2.5 billion into it.
THE DECISION on Marble Hill, the
99th and 100th reactors cancelled since
1974, sent shock waves through the in-
dustry because construction was so far
along.
Work on the first unit was 59 percent
completed, and the second unit was 37
percent finished. Until then, a utility
had not scrapped a plant that was more
than 27 percent completed. That oc-
curred when the Tennessee Valley
Authority cancelled its Phipps Bend
plant in 1982.
Last month, the government said in a
report on the future of the nuclear in-
dustry that it made no sense
economically to cancel any plant in wh-
ich 45 percent of the construction was
finished.
"That just shows you how far the
government is behind the times,''
Charles Komanoff, a consulting
economist on nuclear economics, said
yesterday. "As it now stands, you can
make a good ecnomic case of cancelling
a plant that is not into the 70-to' 75 per-
cent range of construction."
Pearson pleads not
guilty to Faber murder
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By CAROLINE MULLER
Machelle Yvonne Pearson, 17, the ac-
cused killer of Nancy Faber, pleaded
not guilty yesterday to charges of first-
degree murder during her arraignment
before the Washtenaw County Circuit
Court.
In an earlier hearing, the county
prosecuter played a taped confession in
which Pearson admitted that she shot
39-year-old Faber, but she said the gun
went off "accidently."
In the tape, Pearson said her 20-year-
old boyfriend RicardoHart beat her up,
gave her a gun, and told her to go
"steal" something, then forced her to
approach Faber near the Kroger
supermarket at Plymouth and Green
roads.
UPON CONFRONTING Faber,
Pearson asked her for a ride, and when
shy got inside the car, pulled out the gun
and demanded Faber hand over her
purse.
As Faber reached for the gun, Pear-
son said, the weapon went off.
Pearson and Hart were both charged
with first-degree murder, armed rob-
bery, and possession of a firearm.
Judge Ross Campbell set no bond at
Pearson's arraignment. The
preliminary trail is scheduled for Mar-
ch 30 at 2 p.m. The trial will be held
April 30at 9:00 a.m.
Hart's preliminary examination is
today at 9 a.m. at the 15th District Cour-
thouse in Ann Arbor City Hall.
AAUP criticizes reviews
(Continued from Page 1)
get reallocation procedures."
FORMER AAUP president Wilfred
Kaplan, however, called the faculty
"cowards" for not acting sooner.
"They're so afraid, their jobs are at
stake, and they are afraid to talk. We
have a coward faculty. What they don't
realize is that some are going to lose
their jobs anyhow," he said.
Most of the discussion of the
statement, like Kaplan's comments,
resulted from the timing rather than
the contents of the statement.
HERBERT Hildebrandt, chairman of_
SACUA, the top faculty committee
being asked, to support the statement,
predicted that it may be criticized
because it came "when the process is
over.
"If there is going to be a change in the
process, the time to make it is early in
the process," the business professor
said after the meeting.
Hildebrandt said that the level of
dissatisfaction this long after the cuts
were made surprised him. "We've not
received a single letter of dissent," he
said: "To be honest this is the first
weting ,toe whichI've been invited
where I have (witnessed this)."
Flipped AP Photo
Dr. Patrick Barry, left, and Dr.. Richard Foley admire their work after
equipping a 400-pound sea turtle with a pair of $200,000 rubber flippers in
Islamorada, Fla. yesterday. The turtle lost both front flippers to a shark bite
.while swimming off the coast of Florida, and would have been kept in cap-
tivity the rest of her life - an estimated 75 years - without the operation.
IN BRIEF
Compiled from Associated Press and
United Press International reports
Gunmen kidnap Saudi consul
BEIRUT, Lebanon - Three carloads of gunmen kidnapped the consul of the
Saudi Arabian Embassy yesterday, ambushing his chauffeur-driven car on
the crowded streets of west Beirut in a daring daylight attack.
Christian Phalange radio blamed the kidnapping of Hussein Farraj on the
Hisbollah, a fundamentalist Lebanese Shiite Moslem group suspected of in-
volvement in attacks against the multinational peacekeepers in Beirut.
No group immediately claimed responsibility, but an official from the
Justice Ministry who declined to be identified said a man calling himself a
member of Hisbollah had threatened other Saudi diplomats in a telephone
call a month ago.
Saudi Arabia is deeply involved in mediating efforts to end the violence in
Lebanon, but has made enemies in the Middle East because of its ties to the
United States.
London officials arrest Linda
McCartney for drug possession
LONDON - Customs officials arrested former Beattle Paul McCartney's
wife, Linda, on a charge of marijuana possession yesterday at Heathrow
Airport as they returned from Barbados, where both had been convicted of
having the drug.
A customs spokesman, who declined to be identified by name, said inspec-
tors discovered the marijuana as the McCartneys prepared to leave the air-
port in their private plane. Customs sources said "a small amount" of
marijuana was found in Mrs. McCartney's possession.
McCartney's wife, 41, the former Linda Eastman of New York, was held
for four hours at Heathrow's Northside police station and released without
bail. She was ordered to appear at Uxbridge magistrate's court in west Lon-
don on Jan. 24.
She faces a maximum possible punishment of three months in prison and a
fine of 500 pounds ($700), a Home Office spokesman said.
The customs officials moved in after McCartney, also 41, told reporters
who mobbed him at the airport that he believed marijuana should be
"decriminalized."
Nicaragua issues protest over
Honduran helicopter entrance
Nicaragua issued a protest yesterday to onduras charging a camouflaged
helicopter from Honduras entered its airspace near where a U.S .helicopter
pilot was killed last week, Nicaraguan officials said.
The protest came at a time when relations between the two Central
American neighbors have reached a low point following the death last Wed-
nesday of Chief Warrant Officer Jeffery Schwab.
The United States says Schwab was killed by Nicaraguan soldiers after he
landed a light observation helicopter some 200 yards inside Honduras.
On Monday, Gen. Daniel Bali Castillo, commander of the Honduran Public
Security Force, warned that relations between Honduras and Nicaragua
were approaching "a very dangerous point" because.of alleged Sandinista
cross-border attacks against farmers and the killing of Schwab.
The Nicaraguan Foreign Ministry sent a letter of protest to Honduras
saying another helicopter entered its airspace Monday.
Congress for sale, lobby clans
WASHINGTON - More than a third of the nation's political action com-
mittees contributed 80 percent or more of their money to incumbents in the
1982 congressional elections in a legal attempt at influence buying, Common
Cause charged yesterday.
The self-styled citizens' lobby released figures showing that over, the past
decade, 10 PACs have given $44.7 million to congressional candidates.
The American Medical Association and its state affiliate PACs were far
out in front with $5.95 million. Five other unions were in the top 10.
Business interest dominated Common Cause's list of 64 PACs that gave
$100,000 in the 1982 elections and channeled at least 80 percent to re-elect
senators and members of the House.
Fred Wertheimer, president of the 255,000-member organization, called
PACs - which can give $5,000 per candidate per election - an "ugly" but
legal method of buying influence in Congress.
Common Cause is launching a year-long; $600,000 television and radio ad-
vertising campaign today in Iowa, New Hampshire and Massachusetts
to muster public support for legislation that would curb PAC spending. The
organization also wants to provide full tax credits for individual contributors
to House candidates who agree to limit spending to $240,000.
American life expectancy rises
WASHINGTON - Americans are living longer but paying more than ever
for health care - an average of $1,365 per person in 1982, or more than 10
percent of the gross national product - the government reported yesterday.
In its yearly report on U.S. health, the Department of Health and Human
Services said infant mortality has dropped while life expectancy has risen.
At the same time, however, the cost of health care has continued to
escalate rapidly, the report said. Health care expenditures in the U.S.
totaled $322.4 billion in 1982, due largely in part to higher costs for hospital
care, medicines, and medical equipment.
Overall, the mortality rate for heart disease fell 25 percent since 1970, but
it remained the leading cause of death, accounting for about a third of all
deaths in 1982. The death rate for strokes since 1970 dropped 40 percent.
"This is, in a sense, my department's report card on health progress and I
would say the news is exceptionally good," Health and Human Services
Secretary Margaret Heckler said at a news conference. "Our national
health is better than ever."'
Wednesday, January 18, 1984
Vol. XCI V-No. 89
(ISSN 0745-967X)
The Michigan Daily is edited and managed by students at The University
of Michigan. Published daily Tuesday through Sunday mornings during the
University year at 420 Maynard Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 48109. Sub-
scription rates: $15.50 September through April (2 semesters); $19.50 by
mail outside Ann Arbor. Summer session published Tuesday through Satur-
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Billing, 764-0550. Tom Ehr, Joe Ewing. Chris Gerbosi. Jeff Harrison, Pau
Editor-in-chief...................... .BARRY WITT 'Helgren, Steve Hunter. Tom Keoney, Ted Lerner, Doug
Managing Editor ......................JANET RAE Levy. Tim Makinen. Adam Martin. Mike McGraw,
News Editor......................GEORGE ADAMS Scott McKinley, Barb McQuade. Lisa Nofen. Phil
Student Affairs Editor .................. BETH ALLEN Nussell, Rob Pollard. Mike Redstone. Scott Solowich.
Opinon age ditrs .............DAID PAK Poulo Schipper, Randy Schwartz. Rich Weidis. Steve
BILL SPINDLE Ws.Ade of
Arts/Magazine Editors .............. MARE HODGESi Business Manager SAM G SLAUGHTER IV
SUSAN MAKUCH Soles Manager MEG GIBSON
Associate Arts Editor .................JAMES BOYD Operations Manager LAURIE ICZKOVITZ
Sports Editor.........................JOHN KERR Classified Manager PAM GILLERY
Associate Sports Editors ............ JIM DWORMAN Display Manager JEFF VOIGT
LARRY FREED Finance Manager JOE TRULIK
CHUCK JAFFE Nationals Mopager RON WEINER
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Chief Photographer ................DEBORAH LEWIS Assistant Classified Manager LINDA KAFTAN
NEWS STAFF: Marian Abernathy, Cheryl Boocke. Assistant Sales Manager JULIE SCHNEIDER
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