:Nuclear Energy: a Tragic Waste 3y Christa Williams Dec. 25, 1993 - The nearby Fermi II iuclear power plantbore arather undesir- ble gift unto the world: 1.5 million gallons if radioactive water, the result of a "minor ncident." The accident and the silence urrounding it are not unusual. The Nuclear gulatory Commission (NRC)docu- nented 30,000 mishaps at U.S. nuclear >ower plants from 1979 to 1987, and hardly nyoneever heardabout the partial core neltdown that occurred at Fermi I in 1963. The problem with nuclear power eaches further than this one accident. It eaches further than the fact that, in 1990, he NRC calculated the risk of a "severe ore meltdown" at 45 percent within 15 rs. The grand problem is the industry's lisregard for truth, justice and environ- nental health. The facts surrounding the Fermi acident demonstrate this problem on a mall scale. In terms of truth: citizens were ot informed of the true nature of the ccident until the water was about to be umped into Lake Erie. Then, most were v given the basic understanding thatby nce a turbine blade broke off, causing a ire in the generator. Only a few, who dug eeper, discovered the negligence that iarped the turbine, failed to replace it, and id not train workers to handle the emer- ency. Regarding the environment: the ersistent radionuclides introduced into ake Erie are considered toxic substances. they bioaccumulate in the food chain h the potential to cause genetic damage, Y ! / cancer, etc. As forjustice: Detroit Edison, owners of Fermi II - following the example of other toxic industries by making a deal to store their waste with the Mescalero Apaches -pay such communi- ties to become "volunteers" in a scheme, rather like giving a few people on a sinking boat the power to throw their shipmates overboard in order to stay afloat. Of course, it was the salesman's parents who put the passengers on a sinking ship in the first place. Overshadowing these problems are the two biggest lies that keep the whole thing going. First, in calculating the cost per kilowatt hour of nuclear power the industry only includes operating costs, telling us it costs 2cents. Adding plant construction, already the cost goes up to 12 cents, more than coal, gas, and even wind power. Including the cost of decommissioning a plant, an incalculable cost, as no one knows what wages those who monitor the persis- tent waste will be paid 40,000 years from now (never happens), but it is estimated that dismantling a plant will cost more than constructing one. Hmmm ... 22 cents? The second lie is that nuclear power is necessary. A government subcommittee on energy conservation calculated that creating building regulations that included passive solar building technology would save 2 trillion megawatts of power between the years 1990 and 2000. Nuclear energy at most could provide 1 million megawatts in that time. This leaves to wonder why Reagan took the solar panels off the White House and increased funding to nuclear energy. A question for another time. Williams is afirst-year medical student. Is Clinton a liberal? President Clinton's nomination of fed- eral appeals Judge Stephen Breyer to the Supreme Court raises a serious question, that of his predisposition to be unable to stick to any overarching or consistent lib- eral philosophy. His choice of Breyer - despite criticism that Clinton's choice to fill Justice Harry Blackmun's seat on the court lacks diversity (this is incorrect, Breyer is Jewish) - is a direct attempt to avoid any type of congressional battle over a liberal court nominee. With his health care legislation pending in both the Senate and the House, Clinton seems afraid of being contentious. For some reason, he is running scared from the GOP. He dumped Bruce Babbitt, a devout environmentalist, out of fear of Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah). The courtdesperately needs an intellectually potent liberal to counter the conservative antics of Justice Anton Scalia. Breyer is an able and well-qualified jurist. But Babbitt had political experience and a clear liberal streak. Clinton must stick to his guns and fight for what he (hopefully) believes in. -Jason Lichtstein iiorgive, but do not forget On May 10, 1994, the nation of South Africa was reborn. Nelson Mandela became the first truly popularly elected president of that nation. F. W. de Klerk, who once had been a firm proponent of South Africa's Apartheid policies, took an oath to serve beneath Nelson Mandela as a vice president. Looking upon Nelson Mandela, you seea man who spent 27 yearsinprison,amanwhosawgreatsufferingandinjustice.But in Mandela's inaugural speech, there was no sense of bitterness and no call for retribution. He said instead: "The time for the healing of woundshas come.Themoment to bridge the chasms that divide us has come. The time to build is upon us." There are veryfew people whocan hold the memoriesofan oppression as terrible as that of Apartheid without a sense of vengefulness. The Martin Luther Kings, the Gandhis, the Mandelas of the world are truly heroes. They allow nations to cast off the sins of the past, and guide us to a more just future. What they do is very difficult: these people simultaneously acknowledge a history of oppression while strivinglto create a better future free of revenge and retaliation. As recent news events remind us, the past can haunt us all too well.If weremember every pastinjustice, every past battle, every sleight from bygone years, then wecan tooeasily become enmeshed in old vendettas and blood feuds. On our television screens are images fromRwanda.Bloated bodies float byinthe river. The dead casually line the streetsof the capital city Kigali. The rest of world observes, but tries not to look too closely. I wonder what crime long ago spawned this tribal conflict be- tween the Tutsis and the Hutus. What old deed could have sparked this cycle of violence that has now culminated in the deaths of hundreds of thousands? Remembering the past too well gives us tragedies like Bosnia. The Serbs, the Croats and the Muslims recall battles from hundreds of years ago. Old victories and losses are the justification for the bombardment of today's cities. The chil- drenofSarajevobecomeanothergenerationwhichwillperson- ally remember the atrocities, both old and new. Though remembering too well leads to bloodshed, there is peril in the alternative - forgetfulness. It is easy to shrg off the past and dismiss the responsibilities we have to it. We can recognize themostextreme formsofhistoricalamnesiainthose who profess that the Holocaust never occurred. Howeverless obvious formsof historical amnesia abound. It's been three decades since the Civil Rights Act was passed.Today,there are many who wouldliketothink the Civil Rights struggle is over and who would like to forget the Jim Crow and miscegenation laws, the separate fountains and facilities. The person who forgets the centuries of slavery and the decades of lynchings has no active responsibility to the racism of today; this person can be a passive bystander to the poverty and the social inequities which remain today. By forgetting the past, we can live all too comfortably with the legacies of yesterday's injustice. There are many who would like to forget the internment of Japanese Americans in World War II; an effort to place historical markers at the internment camps was met with opposition. Some would rather forget the violent displace- ment of Native Americans by European settlers; it is then easier to ignore the poverty and alcoholism on Indian reser- vations. Some would rather forget the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo; we can then eat the grapes which have cost the lives of migrant worker children. Isend the deepest congratulations to Mr. Mandela.Itis easy to remember the past too well, and to perpetuate a cycle of retribution.Itis alsoeasy to forget thepast, and torefuse to bear responsibility for it. In between these two paths is a most difficult one. South Africa has received a gift - blessed are the peacemakers who can guide the peoples and their nations between these paths. 41 's Diner: Notes from NELP y Allison Stevens ALTON BAY, N.H. - Where to tart? That's always the question I never wer quite right. First, I'd like to elcome you, my reader, to the electro- hemical halitosis meningitis neuroses ransposing from the internal nebulae of y brain onto this cheap newsprint. (You hould be able to tell that I'm not a cience major by now.) Welcome! It's not ften that I share so much with a virtual tranger. But hey, like the old adage says albeit quite incorrectly), "There's no h thing as a stranger, only friends you aven't met." That's kind of how I'm nticipating NELP, at least in the ideal ense. No, NELP is not the newest ynonym for shankbone, nor is it an cronym for Nerds Everywhere Look allid. Actually, as you might have guessed, ELP stands for the New England erature Program, and this is my new idence for the next seven weeks. In case you're wondering, the premise f NELP is a bunch of Thoreau wannabes ike myself who go to pseudo-Walden Pond o study American literature, write and hike naked. Hey, at least we're being what we wannabe. I had heard that NELP was a fantastic experience, and I believed it, but I didn't know exactly why. After finals ended, 37 University students and I hopped in four U-M vans complete with fuzzy radio and stocked with Twizzlers and Sun Chips, and drove 17 hours to Alton Bay, N.H., with an over- night stop in "The Dutchman" where there were bugs in the showers, stains on the sheets, and the interior decoration in commemoration to Liberace. When we arrived at NELP on a cold, dark, rainy night, I still didn't know why NELP had such a fantastic reputation. Tick season was in full swing, there were no cabins with heat, and I was chillin' with 37 students I had met about 24 hours ago. Furthermore, there were the rules. I could handle the no drug and alcohol policy. Maybe I could get a natural high. I could handle letters for a while, and even the fact that bathing suits were conspicuously absent from the packing list. But no music! No music! The closest thing I'll get to music is a shoddy, off-key rendition of John Denver's classic, "Rocky Mountain High" sung by yours truly crying in a bog during a downpour while lost. What the hell is this place? Primitive Living 101? What was I thinking when I applied to this program? I threw back my head in a frenzied desperation, fell to my knees, and inspired by the immortal words of Isiah Thomas, looked up. And in the storied sky of stars I found an answer. Having last seen the pathetic, pink Ann Arbor night sky, polluted with stress and good-byes, the shimmering stars emerged in the sky like pins, pricking my numb fingers. I felt a clarity, a simplicity standing in the cool night. A shooting star then streaked across the sky, like chalk on a blackboard. But unlike as in classic literature, the flaming meteor did not represent chaos. Rather, it paralleled alatent smile streaking across my tense cheeks. It seemed to say, "Challenge the order of the world. Fly through life like a chalky diamond on a used blackboard, leaving your mark as you dissolve into dust." Now I know why I came to NELP. Stevens is afringe travelling member of the Daily opinion staff.