N O NUK S II GOOD NUKIS F LL 7 7 BUT NE RBY RESIDENTS H VE YET TO BE HE RD FROM Marble Hill Site Prep OK d y ureaucrats On August 23rd the Nuclear Regula tory Commission issued a per mit giving the green light t o site preparation o f the first nuclear reactor t o be constructed n ear the Ohio River. The project s sponsor, Public Ser v ice Co. o f Indiana will now forge · ahead with it s plan t o build the dual-r e actor c o mp l e x which, i f it f unctio n s properly will ultimately generat e 2 260 megawatts o f e l e c t r ic p o w e r and will cost a total o f 1.7 billion dollars. It will e called · the Marble Hill Nuclear Generating P lant. The proposed p lant which i s t o b e l o c a ted ten miles southwest of Madison, In. (40 m i l es west o f Frankfort Ky.) h a s come un d e r i ncreasing f ire from e nvir o nm enta li s ts and c o n cerned c iti- z e n s who feel t h a t . d : will provide a n immediat e healt h hazard and is intended primarily to increase t h e profits of PSI while providing ever -m ore-expensive Uranium fueled atomic power . Thes e c ritics i n c luding Kentucky Governor Ca r r o ll, Jefferson Co . Judge Todd Hollenbach a n d Louisvill e Mayor Harv e y Sloane conte n d that t h e h i s tory of nu c l e a r po w e r prov e s it t o b e a bad risk both economica lly and in terms o f safety . They say i t would provide high costs and risks to all tion a n d . that the odds against a reac tor failure are high . Th e y have yet to provide conclusi v e d o c umentation t o prove these ass e rt i o n s . The critics ar e led b y a Madison o r ganization Save The Valley which has spent over 30,000 d o l l a r s fight i n g i n court and researching and an c t i o n ~ · oriented - group . f r om Clarkesville The Paddl e wh e e l Alliance. - The latter grou p recentiy sponsored a demonstration in Clarkesville w hi c drew 250 participants and has indicat e d a willingness t o directly occupy t h e Marble Hill site. Presently t h e NRC estimates that nuclear Power is only four percent chea per than coal and t h i s h a s dist r e s sed t h o se who would lik e to see Kentucky s coal i ndustr m ake greater e c o nom- i c inroads . Th e y p , > int tc t h < := 2C T: t h a t Uranium prices have increased b y 1000 percent recently and more major price increases are expected. Coal prices are expected to remain more stable . The c r i ti c s a l s o n o t e t h a t PSI bases its c laim o f need for the plant on t h e assumption t hat e n e rg y demand will continue to acce l erate at a great p a c e . But i t d o e s not t a k e into c o nsideration moves toward conservation higher fuel c osts which will drive consumption down, altern ative fuel sources and increased
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s i l fue l s , overes t imat ions as to the power ·
produc i ng capabi l i t y o f nukes and, most
commonly, decept ive claims al luded to in re
l a t ion to ins ta l l a t ion safe ty and c lean l i
ness. The case of the Shippingpor t , PA Nuc
l ear Generating Plant i s an excel l en t e x m p ~ eof the l a t t e r .
'of the hi 'Jhest in fan t mor ta l i ty r a t e . This
s tudy was repeated twice mor€ with the same
r esu l t s .
Things remain much the· s me in Al .i,.<auippa
today except t ha t there are now two d d i t ~ o n -a l nuclear p lan t s planned for opera t ion Qy
1981, each p lan t <Ulioat t en t imes as powerful
as the one or ig ina l ly in operat ion.
The p lan t s to be constt: 'Ucted in Madison,
Indiana are to be about twenty-two t imes
powerful as the or ig ina l Shippingpor t p lan t . ,
In the ear ly 1970's , the Dusquene Light AM I SOUP YET?Company , owner s of th e Shippingport plan t ,
(Coincidently the f i r s t atomic p lan t i n oper As d i f f i c u l t as it might be to comprehend
a t ion in the Un i t ed Sta tes , in 1957) made the there may ac tua l ly be hope for those vict im
bold asser t io n tha t the f a c i l i t y was the ized by the secondary e f f ec t s . of s t ront ium
c l eanes t , sa f e s t nuclear p lan t in the world . 90 f a l lou t as the r e s u l t o f a nuclear bomb
Now , not even the c r i t i c s were ready or or f a l lou t r e s u l t i_ng from ·an acciP,ent a t an
anxious to dispute t h i s f asc ina t ing a lbe i t atomic power generator .
undocumented statement of corpora te adve r t i s - The Gas t ro in t e s t i na l Research Laboratory
ing. For it was qui te apparent tha t the p lan t of McGill Univers i ty in Montreal h a ~ con-
may very well have been the sa f e s t but to com- ducted s tudies which ind ica te tha t a compoundpa r e the safe ty of atomic plants was akin to ca l led Sodium Alginate , which i s der ived from
ta s t e-testing t oads tool s . You opera te a t your Giant Brown Kelp, can reduce the amount of
own per i l . s t ront ium 90 absorbed through the in te s t ine
This a t t i tud e on th e pa r t of the skept ics by f i f t y to e ighty percent . This i s extremely
was soon jus t i f i ed by none other than Dusquene importan t as by fa r the most s ign i f i can t
Light Co. when it autho r iz ed a safe ty study usurpat ion o f r ad i a t ion i s through diges t ion
which would presumably confirm it s safe ty ra the r than skin absorb t ion or inha la t ion .
thes is . Dr. Stanley Skoryna, a member of the s tu -The s tudy, un de r taken in 1972, examined d y group s t a t e s tha t Sodium Alginate per -
the populac e of Aliquippa, PA., nine miles mits ca lcium to be absorbed through the in -
from Shipp ingpor t a nd uncovered some ra ther te s t i na l wal l s , while it binds most of the
disconcer t ing fac ts . s t ront ium within the i n t es t ine . In otherWhereas the r a te of Le uke mia was decl ining words s t ront ium, which normally would bind
throughout the en t i r e s t a t e it was increas ing with calcium, i s prevented from doing so
dramat i ca l l y n Aliquippa . This town, nine by the a lg in . Subsequent ly both the a lg in and
miles from the c leanes t , safes t nuclear p lan t the s t ront ium are excre ted .
had c'and has) a leukemia ra te double the r e s t In the s tudy, r a t s we.re in j ec t ed with a
of Pennsylvania. All i n f an t diseases amount to s t ront ium compound. some were then fed a lg in
165 percen t of the s t a t e average . And the in - while other s were not (nor were they fed
f a n t mor ta l i ty ra te i s double t ha t of the r es t sachar in) . The animals r ece iv ing ke lp showed
o f the s t a te . 60 percent l e s s s t ront ium in t h e i r blood andWhe n these s t a t i s t i c e were made publ ic 75 percent l e s s in t h e i r bones. This with
Dusquene Light was under s tandably per turbed. l evel s of s t ront ium present equivalant to
Of c ourse , not because of the murderous capa- t ha t which would be rece ived a f t e r a nuclearc i t y of the p lan t but because i t was made publ ic explos ion. ·
So ins te a d o f a l lev ia t ing th e problem by Considering t ha t ea ch of us i s subjec t -
shu t t i ng down ope ra t ions Dusquene p u t it s ed to about 100 mili - rems of rad ia t ion per
PR departmen t to work. 'year from na tu ra l background sources and or.e
The on l y de fense tha t could be mustered by mili - rem from nuclear power p lan t s , it i s im-
the company was tha t the minor i ty popula t ion pera t ive , according to PREVENTION magazine,
of Al iquippa had i ncreased, weighting th e s ta - tha·t we each consume two grams of Sodium A l-
t i s t i c s . gina te da i ly for protec t ion . I t i s read i ly
An examination of U.S Census f igures in - ava i l ab le n most heal th food s to re s and in
dica ted the percentage of non-white res idents the form of kelp a t the Good Foods Co-Op in
ha d ac tua l ly decreased . Lexington.
Having l o s t phase one Dusquene again took And ·if projec t ions for the fu ture hold
the offensive claiming tha t the high r a te s of t rue nuclear p lan t s wil l cause an increase
illne ss and morta l i ty were due to nonradio- of t h i r t y percent n background r ad i a t ion in
ac t ive a i r po l lu t an t s . This was hardly c red i r the next t en years which may make ke lp able s ince the l eve l of these po l lu t an t s was l i f esaver .
about the same in Aliquippa as in the r es t of Of course there wi l l be those who sc .orn
the s ta te . the pleasures of being protec ted from s t ron -
So Dusquene cont rac ted for another s tudy t ium a f t e r a l a rge por t ion of the country
which was ass igned to the head of the depar t7 has been ob l i t e r a ted but who l i s t e n s toment of s t a t i s t i c s a t Carnegie-Mellon Uni- cynics?
vers i ty . The r e su l t s were es sen t ia l ly the same. As of yet there i s a p p a r e ~ 1 y no cure
In addi t ion the second surve y discovered for those unlucky enough to e l iv ing in
tha t the l eve l of the r ad ioac t ive pol lu tan t the v ic in i ty of a d i r ec t s t r ike by an
Strontium 90 found i n cows milk in Aliquippa atomic warhead although with the Neutronwas 75 percent highe r than the s t a t e average. bomb we can now save the bui ld ings .1970 Being the year when Strontium 90 con-
cent ra t ion Wi .s a t . its peak and a lso the year
It i s i r r e fu t a b l y axioma,tic in the l a t e 1970 s t h a t apathy i s rampant,
The l a s t pre s iden t i a l e l ec t i o n unders tandably evoked a r ecord low response
from the e l ec t o ra t e and the Lexington mayoral compet i t ion draws i n t e r e s t o f ap
proxamately the same magni tude.
Except fo r sporad ic reg iona l developments t h e re has been a minimum o f p o l
i t i c a l ac t i v i t y of any shade post-Vietnam. Most p o l i t i c a l l y o r i en t ed e n t e r t a i n ment having erupted onto the boob tube without so much as our compliance.
But occass ional ly a top ic or even t b e l i e s an undercurrent of ab id ing con
cern on the p a r t of a g rea t number o f persons and prope l s them i n t o s p i r i t ed
ac t ion . Thus we see the pros and cons engaged in f ev e r i sh confron ta t ion over the
ERA; Kent St a t e s tuden t s campaign fo r a symbolic rememberance o f dead compad
res ; an t i -bus ing p a ren t s r e s i s t i n g what they f e e l to be the t o t a l in f r ingement
on the i r r i g h t to personal s e l ec t i o n ; f ac to ry workers r i sk ing l ive lyhoods and
sometimes t h e i r l i v e s t o r ec t i f y unjus t working condi t ions and on- the- job s a fe t y
hazards ; and unemployed men and women p ro t e s t i n g the inequa l i ty of a system t h a t
l eaves them out in th e cold.
Closer to home t he re have been a t l e a s t a couple of i s su es which have s t i r r e d more than a mild degree of a t t en t iveness .
Tops on the list i s the Army Corps of Engineers plan to des t roy the wonder'
land t h a t i s the Red River Gorge and rep lace it with a yacht ing club. Nothing l e s s
than blun t , decis ive c i t i z e n ac t ion ended t h i s f i a sco .
The n there was the Lexington Civic Center which caused g rea t hardsh ip to
poor persons and s tuden t s in t h e i r displacement fo r what i s now black top . Unt i l
the cour t s so jud ic ious ly revoked a l l the r i g h t s of the d i spossessed t h e re was a
good deal of p o s i t i v e involvement in r e s i s t i n g t he c ru e l ac t io n of the l o ca l
p o l i t i ca l establ i shment .
And in l e s se r numbers people have responded to a mult i tude o f other p o l i t i c a l
i s sues and movements from coopera t ive l i f e s t y l e s to t he r i g h t s of the handicapped.But non e of the aforementioned, or perhaps ever mentioned i s su es ranks on t he
s m e p la t eau o f c r i t i c a ln e s s as t h a t of nuc lea r power for it i s t he i ssue o f t he
u l t ima te concern . The one t h a t may even tua l ly mean l i f e or dea th to any or . a l l o f
us and our ch i ld ren . And t h e re i s no escap ing it I t i s everywhere and it i s to
day requ i r ing our a t t en t i o n s .
For c l a r i t y sake l e t us once more touch upon the fundamental components
of cogent oppos i t ion to nuclear power. Let it s ink in fo r a moment. It ap p l i e s
in th e most d i r e c t sense to you.
he re most types o f energy sources now func t ion ing have t h e i r p o l l u t an t
e f f e c t , none compares to th e extreme p o l l u t an t s emit ted y a nuc lea r r eac t o r .And t h i s i s compounded i n f i n i t e l y by the severe safe ty hazards .
**By the most conservat ive U.S. Government es t imate a nuc lea r r eac t o r acc iden t
could cause 14 b i l l i o n in proper ty damage, k i l l 3,300 people immediate ly , i n j u re
45,000, cause 45,000 f a t a l cancers and cause gene t ic d i seases fo r f iv e genera t ions .
**Even t he c l ean es t r eac t o r produces a r ad io ac t iv e ef f luen t (was te) which remains
a deadly and everpres en t hazard fo r thousands of yea rs . There i s no i n f a l l i b l e
way to dispose o f t h i s waste . It a l so may be used qui te e a s i l y to b u i ld bombs.
**The water requ i red to cool the r eac t o r i s re tu rned to its source a t g rea t e r
he a t l eve l s c rea t in g eco log ica l havoc. And the water i s contaminated by minute
And if the sa fe ty problems weren ' t enough the re are enough other f c ~ s to
prove conclus ively the need to dump t h i s boondoggle.
**Nuclear power i s high ly cap i t a l in tens ive . It c rea tes few jobs for the dol -
l a r s spent . Many more jobs would be crea t ed fo r them same expendi ture on cons t ruc-
t i o n of a plan t using foss i l fue l s and espec ia l ly one coal . The negat ive
e f fec t t h a t nuc lear power wi l l have on Kentucky 's coal indus t ry i s inest imabl@.
But s ince the u t i l i t i e s have t h e i r f inger s in every power they go where the
p r o f i t i s not where the jobs are .
**The dangers of sabatoge to a nuclear p l a n t wi l l presen t the need for ana t iona l s tanding pol i ce fo rce for i n s t a l l a t i o n pro tec t ion . This has al ready
been author ized by Congress a t . the behest o f Pres ident Car ter . This same fore@
could be used fo r other , l e s s obvious purposes in i t s general area of deployment.
And it could conceivably be used to r e s i s t a populat ion t h a t d o e sn ' t want atomic
power.
**I t i s a c l a s s i c example of the r i c h ge t r i ch e r . The most p ro f i t ab l e indus t ry ,
u t i l i t i e s , and a l l i t s var ious r e l a t ed i ndus t r i e s wi l l have t o t a l cont ro l over
nuc lear power and i t s p r o f i t s and could t o t a l ly squeeze out cos t - reducing
compet i t ion . Whereas in a l t e r n a t i v e energy sources such as so la r and wind the
ownersh ip i s much more decen t r a l i zed and compet i t ive , lead ing to cos t savings
f or sonsumers.
That , in i t s bare es sen t i a l s i s the case aga ins t nuclear power and i t s
assor ted headaches. And a compel l ing case it i s .
From i t s impact on th e economy to the f ea r of p o l i t i c a l i n t e r fe re.nee in
operat ions both by the government and by determined sabateurs , to the extreme
hea l th hazards , the p e r i l assoc ia t ed with nuclear power i s unpara l le led and
v i r t u a l l y incomprehensib l e . But it e x i s t s . And if we do not shake out o f our
. malaise-or apathy-and take a s tand and ge t involved we j u s t might not have a choice
or even a voice to ra i s e in di ssen t or l aughter o r song. We may jus t be
a s t a t i s t ic of the s i l e n t bomb .
AND ITS CHEAP, TOO.
On August 20th th e Tenesee Val ley Au
t h o r i t y announced t h a t the cos t of two
nuc lear p l an t s it i s bui ld ing have in
creased by $1.2 b i l l i o n .
TVA says t h a t the cost o f i t s Harts
v i l l e plan t , lo cated 45 miles nor th of
Nashvi l le has increased from 2.5 to 3.5
b i l l i on do l l a r s . The p l a n t wi l l generate
5.3 mil l ion ki lowat ts making it the
wor lds l a rges t nuc lear generat ing p l a n t .
15 miles from Kingsport i s the 2.5
mil l ion k i lowat t Phipps Bend nuclear
generator and i t s pr ice tag has in
creased from 1 .6 to 1. 8 b i l l i o n d o l l a r s .
BETTER ACTIVE TODAY
On August 14th, the day 250 Hoosiers
and Kentuckians marchedaga ins t
nukes ,thousands of Spaniards took to the
s t r e e t s with the same messege.
In Badoz, nea r Por tugal , over 5000
persons pr o t e s t e d p lans to bu i ld a p l a n t
a t nearb y Baldecabal leros . Meanwhile
thousands more marched a t Val lencia
to express opposi t ion to another p lan
ned f a c i l i t y . Opposition to nuclear pow
e r i s universa l and t r anscends g e o g r p hi c a l and politica l boundar ies .
AT LEAST SOMETHING IS CERTAINTHESE DAYS
SO MUCH FOR MINE SAFETY
Dr. Robert Dohl, a p h y s i c i s t a t Cor
n e l l Univer s i ty es t ima tes t h a t r a d i a
tion £rom Thorium 230, which i s in the
t a i l i n g s l e f t a f t e r the mining of Uran
ium, could even tua l ly be respons ible
fo r eleven mil l ion deaths .
In the same vein , t a i l i n g s from
mining have be en used fo r l a n d f i l l andhome cons t ruc t ion in the southwest