Monday, December 6, 1982
Daily Nebraskan
Page 5
Nuclear weapons, power dangerous at any stage
I'm writing in response to Bryon Bakenhus' Dec. 1
letter to the editor that suggests that the difference
between nuclear weapons and nuclear power lies only
in their purpose. . ... ,v
The hazards and similarities of the nuclear cycler,
be it in weapons production or the generation of elec
trical power, are very dangerous, at emy stage, of pro-
duction. "; '
The mining anjl milling of uranium has inflicted more
lung cancer to mine workers than a century of coal min
ing and black lung disease. The reprocessing and trans-
Guest Opinion
portation of wastes produced by both weapons manu
facture and electrical production are dangerous, unsafely
executed and insufficiently regulated.
The truth is, we could be better off without either.
Nuclear-generated electricity has accounted for less
than 13 percent of electrical output in the United States
since 1979. More energy' is produced annually by Ameri
cans using wood stoves.
Although our enormous military expenditures rank
us at No. 1 or No. 2 in world war-making potential, we
rank only 20th in doctor-patient ratios, only 13th in
infant mortality and only ninth in life expectancy.
Bakenhus suggests that "extreme care is taken ia
the use and handling of waste products." I only can
hope his words are of comfort to the people of Harris
burg, Pa., who live near the infamous Three Mile Island,
or to the people of Omaha who last winter were sub
jected to gases and steam released from Fort Calhoun. j
The words of faith spoken by experts and engineers j
mean very little when you stop to remember that the j
Nebraska Public Power District was assessed a record J
fine by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for fail- !
ing to install adequate emergency warning systems in J
Brownville, Neb.
That fine, by the way, will be passed on to consumers
in rate hikes. It's funny our "experts" called nuclear- i
generated power "too cheap to meter" just a decade i
or more ago.
Let's be sensible and freeze the further production
and deployment of nuclear weapons as well as channel
research funds into alternate energy sources with the
same capital and enthusiasm that we put into our initial
nuclear experimentation. .
Technical superiority means military superiority in
this ffercl. The two are not separate. Why would an oil
rich country, like Iraq need an atomic reactor? So it
Can produce- the plutonium needed for atomic weapons
and become another cardholder in the Doomsday Poker
Game.
Our government's interest in fission research has en
dangered the public while laws like the Price-Anderson
Act are passed to protect utilities and limit their liabili
ties. The Price-Anderson Act limits a utility to $500
million liability - not a lot of money if every home
owner and businessman would have been reimbursed
for losses had Three Mile Island melted down. That
meltdown was a "virtual impossibility," according to
"experts," but was as close as if 30 minutes of prolonged
overheating had occured, according to the NRC.
Let's join the other 182 municipalities in America
that have banned the transportation of nuclear wastes
through their communities and support on site dry cast
storage.
Tom Bogus of NPPD (Daily Nebraskan, Dec. 1) sug
gests that dry cask storage is only "pioneering in the
field" and continues to advocate rail shipments through
Lincoln and the UNL campus.
I would like to suggest' that most of our so-called
experts possess the skill and awareness of the barbers
who practiced surgery in midieval England.
The facts are that nuclear armaments and nuclear
generated power are costly and dangerous, and are very
active .threats to the well being of all of us.
I hope that Bakenhus and his colleagues will use
their conscience as well as their technology to work
with them each day when they begin to practice their
skills in the field of engineering.
WP. Swearingen
junior, speech communications
Letters on Page 6
Bring In This Coupon-
r
l
HOLIDAY
SPECIAL
$10 OFF Perms
Hea
Together6
We Make Heads Turn
ds
'Facts'.
Continued from Page 4
The meager little Akron
law just tells women the
consequences of abortion.
Surely ve should be tell
ing women the, conse
quences of motherhood.
We might write down a
modest list of facts, facts
that have the advantage of
being factual. The patient
might, for example, like
to know that the risk of
death from childbirth is
about 10 times higher than
the risk of death from a
legal abortion.
More information would
be due minors, I suppose.
Assuming a safe delivery,
this young mother, if she
is like nine out of 10
teen-agers,, may keep her
baby. Then, like three out
of four of her new peers,
she may drop but of school,
often because she can't find
affordable day-care.
In the spirit of finan
cial information, someone
also should mention that a
female-headed household
has less than four-tenths the
income of a two-parent
household. That same
household is much more
likely to be on welfare.
None of these facts
would be presented to frigh
ten the patient. I merely
offer them in the spirit of
knowledge. After all, there
appear to be a great many
citizens who consent to
harassing pregnant women
without being informed
about post-partum realities.
The Akron lawyer on
Tuesday called his city's
regulation "choice en
hancing." If the Supreme
Court refuses to strike it
down, well surely need
more enhancements. If no
pregnant woman can have
an abortion without inform
ed consent, then henceforth
and forever more, no preg
nant woman can deliver
without informed consent.
Sorry, the law is the law.
(cl 1932.TM WKhinpton
Pott tVrttws Group
I
j 17th&R
Give Holiday Coin Bags
$10 or $15
You ccn depend on a friend
16th &P
MEMBER FDIC
4754902
Exp. Dec. 18th, 1982
$&&&J 1-aaTLjsw rates M Wffi
J
Csn3
t SlwCttr
A
All Big Riditams
will be 10 off
next week.
nr
Open Monday-Friday, 8-5:30, Saturday, 9-5:30
VA
1 2th & R Streets In Lincoln Center 470-01 1 1