The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current, April 09, 1980, Page page 4, Image 4
page 4 daily nebraskan Wednesday, april 0, 1080 Nuclear industry must regain public confidence With the first anniversary of the nuclear accident at Three Mile Is land, two outcomes are definitely clear. One is healthy for the nu clear industry while the other may cripple it to a point that the first country to develop a nuclear plant may take a back seat in providing nuclear power behind such count ries as the Soviet Union and France. Within five years, France hopes to get 50 percent of its electrical energy from the atom while Rus sians hope to boost nuclear power from 2 to 10 percent of that nation's total energy share. At the same time, the United States may be continuing a slowdown which has seen nuclear-generated electri cal power drop from 13 percent before last year's accident to 10.6 percent for 1979. But many good moves have been made since the combination of mechanical malfunctions and operator errors that night on Three Mile Island more than a year ago. According to Time, all 2,500 U.S. licensed reactor operators have gone through the sequence which occurred at Three Mile Is land and regularly drill to handle multiple failures. The industry already has started implementing more than 100 changes in plant designs recom mended by the Nuclear Regu latory Commission and three plants were closed earlier this year for failing. to meet NRC require ments. Utilities are permanently assigning an additional expert to each shift who is free of routine duties and can monitor safety in dicators. President Carter announced a permanent waste repository pro gram on Feb. 14. But the nuclear industry must regain public confidence if it is to continue to serve the needs of an energy-starved country. Another mess-up such as Three Mile Island will not only be costly for the nu clear industry, but the public in general. Little is known about a similar event in 1977 at Toledo Edison's Davis-Besse plant where operators made the same mistake as Three Mile Island of turning off emer gency cooling pumps. The mistake was detected in time, however, and the reactor quickly brought back to normal. there is going to be some kind of danger involved. The danger must be overcome by a responsible in dustry and government. The time has come for careful scrutiny of the nuclear industry along with a touch of tempered reality for anti-nuclear idealists. Harry Alien Strunk r v 50 m'$ WRONG WITH R&LASfN6 HARMLESS AMOUNTS OF Any time energy is generated, fKYr UN VW ITO Mlpfflt!Kt U Wide range of reasons draw foreigners to UNL Editor's note: This is the second column in a two-part series discussing reasons why foreign students come to the United States and to UNL. Many UNL international students attended other uni versities before coming here. Some come to pursue an ad vanced degree or specialized studies, but there are other 'did reasons for switching schools. Kayvan, from Iran, said, "The university I was going to in Tehran was under pressure to shut down from the former government. The professors went on strike, and so with no classes to attend, I decided to come to the U.S. to study." He came to UNL because it was the first of several schools to accept him, and the only one which notified him in time for him to get a visa to study in the United States. Khossrow Manssouri had problems getting into the overcrowded university system in Iran. But for the archi tecture senior, UNL wasn't his first college experience. "I first went to a junior college in Michigan. I got tired of seeing Iranians all over the place, and came to UNL be cause of this and its good architecture program," he said. English isn't the native language of most of the foreign students here but is widely spoken in international situa tions. A desire to improve their English brings many stu dents to English-speaking countries. I have been reading the newspaper on and off during this semester, but Monday's editorial by the Editor-in-Chief tops all. It is the straw that broke the camel's back. Being the Editor-in-Chief of this campus newspaper you have the sacred duty towards the wellbeing of the stu dent body, and that is to help make this campus a better place to live on, for all students, wherever they may be from. Instead, you are enticing a riot or even a lynch mob. With your personal editorial you are breaking every rule of good journalism; personal, biased involvement. I agree, the hostage situation has gone too far, but this doesn't mean every Iranian in the United States should be punished. Isn't their being here enough reason to show that they want to live here and not in Iran? What will happen to the free society existing now in this civilized country when professional" journalists start promoting concentration camps through personal articles? In the future I hope that you will try to visualize the effects of such before you print them. I am sure that you do not want to take the responsibility of instigating any Violent reactions which may occur. t . TareefNashashibi Senior, Mechanical Engineering Editor! note: Monday! editorial stated that Sen. S.I. Hayakawa's, R-Calif., idea to intern Iranians in concen tration camps in America was farfetched. Constitutional guardians I read with interest your March 14, 1980 editorial. I share your respect for the work of Media of Nebraska in the area of protecting First Amendment rights. As director of the Nebraska Civil liberties Union (NCLU), I have had the opportunity to work with the organization on several issues of mutual concern. However, Media of Nebraska is not the only champion of First Amendment rights in Nebraska. The NCLU, founded in 1967, is an organization devoted to the pro motion and protection ot the entire bill of Rights. The NCLU is an affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union which was founded in 1920. First among the concerns of the NCLU is protecting First Amendment rights. As you know, the First Amend ment to the United States Constitution, besides protecting a free press, also establishes freedom to petition the government. The 13-year history of the NCLU is replete with litiga tion concerning free expression. In fact, the very first case to be litigated by the NCLU involved a successful con stitutional challenge to a loyalty oath required by state government as a condition of employment. Continued on fage 5 Beatriz Montoya, a sophomore graphic design major from Venezuela, said, "English is the international language, and I want to learn it better. Americans are easier to get along with than the English, so I came here." Students from Japan, Nigeria, and several other countr ies reported that the universities' policy strictness at home caused them to apply at UNL. Kohoru Tanaka, a Japanese environmental engineering junior, said, "I became interested in anthropology while studying at home, but couldn't switch majors. That's why I came here. Now, I'm studying anthropology." Tony Ofili, from Nigeria, also wanted to switch majors but couldn't do so in Nigeria without losing his academic standing. Although some people complain about Nebraska's apparent lack of landscape, it was just that plains environ ment that lured Anthony Simon here from Trinidad and Tobago. The sophomore in engineering commented, "When I decided to attend a university in the United States, some how I always wanted to go to one of the midwestern states. In geography class in high school, we heard about the prairies, large farms, and cowboys or cattlemen -that's how I imagined it to be here. This had a sort of romantic appeal to me," Quique Gallardo, a sophomore engineering major from Puerto Rico, observed that They have a good program here for foreign students. But sometimes they consider me foreign, sometimes not. "The financial help is pretty good; and this encouraged me to stay here. The reason why first came is a friend who was here told me about the engineering program, and I liked what he said about it. Sports also attract foreign students to Nebraska, but it's not football they're interested in. UNL's women's track and men's swimming teams, among others, have members from overseas. Normalee Murray, a journalism freshman, said, "Most Jamaican athletes, like myself, come to the United States for competition, because you have better training facilit ies, and a lot more opportunities, in jobs for example." Anders Rutqvist, a sophomore in engineering, said that "in Sweden, we have no sports whatsoever at the univer sities. If you want to attend a university, that means you almost have to quit sports. That's one big reason why so many Swedes are coming to the United States to study, so they can participate in sports at the same time. Some reasons aren't exactly earth-shaking. Mehdi Alfatemi, a junior from Iran, said, "I was in California be fore this but was looking for something else. A friend said he was going somewhere else, maybe Nebraska, so I said, t)K,whynotrM Maisun Allahiq, a senior from Saudi Arabia, said she is here 'because it's a different country. I dont have any really profound reason for doing something or for being here-! just am.w