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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (April 16, 1990)
... WEATHER INDEX Monday, increasing clouds, 20 percent chance of News.2 showers, high 60-65 at noon, becoming breezy Editorial.4 and cooler in the afternoon with a 30 percent sports 6 chance of light rain, north wind 15-20 mph. Mon- Arts . Entertainment 9 day night, low in the upper 20s Tuesday, mostly '' V? sunny and cooler, high in the low-50s Classifieds.10 April 16, 1990__ University of Nebraska-Lincoln Vol. 89 No. 13& ^ Speakers argue safety of radioactive disposal By Cindy Wostrel Staff Reporter Two speakers agreed that the disposal of radioactive waste is an economic issue, but dis agreed about how it should be ap proached. Lynn Moorcr of Concerned Citi zens of Nebraska told about 25 people at the Nebraska Union on Saturday that Nebraska may have gotten more than it bargained for when it entered into a low-level radioactive waste disposal compact for economic rea sons. Larry Grimm, radiation safety officer for the University of Ncbraska Lincoln, said low-level waste disposal is both an economic and a safety issue. But Moorer said US Ecology, the company contracted to build the Nebraska site, has had a ‘‘5b percent record at best” of building sites that don’t leak. ‘‘I don’t know how many of you would go into business with someone with a 56 percent success rate,” she said. Bui “Nebraska is ai the head of a line” of stales in which a silc might be located, she said. Grimm said radiation has some positive aspects, though. “Is radiation something that bene fits us?” he asked. “Yes, it docs.” As a nuclear medicine technolo gist, Grimm said, he injected people with radioactive material that length ened their lives. Using radioactive materials also helps to better the quality of life by reducing hydrocarbon emissions, he said. “It’s very much a pro-environ ment issue,” he said. Moorcr said Nebraska could be come the silc for waste from all over the United States. “If we have a dump,” Moorcr said, “we have no defense from all of the nation’s waste coming here.” Nebraskans do not know how much hazardous waste would be brought to the state by having the site here, she said. “Let’s make the generators re sponsible,” she said. Grimm said disposing of low-level waste has become a political issue, but it’s not a technical one. He said the public can be shielded from radia tion. Disposal sites arc constructed to prevent water from entering, he said, to detect any moisture that might enter them and to trap any such moisture so it can’t leave the site. Disposal sites also are located in arid areas to keep the chemicals from moving, he said. Interstate compacts reduce the number of sites, w hich helps to con trol waste, he said. Besides, there is “not that much waste out there,” he said. Sites in Nevada, Washington and South Caro lina each occupy about 200 acres ol land, he said, although the Nevada site uses only about 1 (X) of those acres. Grimm said most man-made ra dioactive waste goes away more quickly than natural radioactivity. Cobalt 66, for example, has a five year half-life and iron 55 has a 2 1/2 year half-life, he said. Within 100 years, he said, 90 to 95 percent of the man-made material at the waste site would be converted to non-radioac nve material. Some radioactive matcnals are even necessary to sustain life, he said. Potassium chloride, a salt, contains 0.012 percent of a radioactive iso tope, Grimm said. The legal amount of radiation al lowed to leak from a site is one-tenth of whata person in Nebraska receives naturally each day, he said. Moorer and Grimm’s speeches were part of the Nebraska Symposium on • Waste Management, a seminar spon sored by the International Associa tion of Students in Economics and Business Management. Al Schaben/Daity Nebraskan Sgt. L.G. Olson of the Lincoln Police Department instructs Marcia Anderson of the Greater Nebraskans Animal Welfare Society to stop impeding traffic by handing out pamphlets in front of the Nebraska State Fairgrounds south entrance gate Saturday. The participants were protesting animal oruefty during the University-of Nobraska-Lincoln college rodeo. Professors theorize on candidate increase By Cindy VVostrel Staff Reporter The lack of incumbents running for re-election and the atten tion higher education has re ceived in Nebraska seems to have multiplied the number of candidates running for regent, three UNL profes j sors say. More candidates than in past years are running for the two open seats on the NU Board of Regents. In fact, the seven candidates running in Douglas County (District 2) arc the most to run in a district since 1982. Four candi dates are running in Lancaster County (District 1). In 1982, seven regent candidates ran for the District 6 scat. Two years earlier, nine candidates ran in the same race. Statistics are not available for races before those. Susan Welch, a professor of politi cal science at the University of Ne braska-Lincoln, said she thinks part of the reason for the high number of regent candidates is that higher cdu See REGENTS on 3 1 Regent candidates discuss higher education issues I Editor’s note: The following is the first of a two-part series on the race for the NU Board of Regents. Candidates answer ques- ! tions about three of the most important is sues facing higher education in Nebraska: Q1: Do you support the higher education re structuring passed by the Nebraska Legisla ture on April 9? Why or why not? Q2: Do you think there should be a voting student member on the board(s) that gov erns Nebraska’s higher education? !()3: As regent, what w ould you do to keep the > cost of financing a college education from growing? Would you try to reduce costs? How? By Cindy Wostrel Staff Reporter Earl Scudder Hometown: Chicago. Lived in Nebraska since 1960. Job: President and owner, Scudder Law Firm. Age: 47 Education: University of Ncbraska-Lincoln, B.S. Business Administration, 1964. Graduate of UNL College of Law, 1966. Degree: Doctorate of Jurisprudence. Drake University, Cor porate Finance, 1966-67. Scudder Ql: Scudder said he opposes LB1141 as passed See SCUDDER on 5 Charles Wilson Hometown: Lincoln Job: Cardiologist of the Nebraska Heart Insti tute Age: 51 Education: Mayo Clinic, two-year fellowship, I specialty was internal Medicine and Cardiol- j ogy, Rochester, Minn., 1968-1972 Northwestern University Medical School, 1%4 graduate, M.D. University of Ncbraska-Lincoln, I960 gradu ate Bachelors of Arts Ql: Wilson, former chairman of the Nebraska Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education, supported the Legislature’s pro posal to give the commission power to govern NU and Nebraska’s state colleges. Nebraska'scoordinating commission isonc of the three weakest systems in the country for tax-supported institutions, he said. But it repre sents many more institutions than those in Delaware and Vermont, the other two states with weak commissions, he said. The new commission could formulate a stra tegic plan for the uni versity and approve academic programs that fit into it, Wilson said, instead of reacting sepa rately to each issue in the Legislature. LB 1141 as passed Wilson April 9, he said, was ‘ almost to the word” the See WILs6bTon5 nrtti: k « Lancaster Coumy Trevor McArthur Hometown: Lincoln Job: Staff Assistant at Sheldon Film Theater, Telephone interviewer for Telephone National Research Corporation. Age: 23 Education: Senior, University of Nebraska Lincoln, Teachers College Q1: McArthur said Tuesday that he hadn’t had time to study the proposal. He said it might be wrong for him to take a stand of the issue because Nebraska voters will decide what kind of system will govern higher education.__ “It’s quite possible that all of this higher education restructuring is not necessary,” he said. “The only thing that is necessary is to get a better group of people into the board of re gents.” He opposes the re gents being relegated to daily affairs under McArthur LB 1141. Regents should be concerned with See MCARTHUR on 3 Dick Powell Hometown: Sidney. Raised in Bcnkelman, about 40 miles west of McCook. Job: Self-employed optometrist (1970 to pres ent) Age: 44 Education: University of Nebraska-Lincoln, one semester, 1963. McCook junior College, pre-Optometry, B .S., 1964-68. Southern College of Optometry, Memphis, Tcfin., 1968, Doctorate of Optometry'. Q1: Powell said he is not sure if he supports the Legislature’s proposed changes in Nebraska’s higher education system. The current system has existed for more than 100 years with some modification, he said. ‘‘I am just not comfortable with our leaders in state government proposing this constitu tional amendment without any real public hearing or debate on that particular issue,” he said. Powell said he favors a stronger post-secondary coordinating commis sion that has power over planning, definition and coordination of role and m ission, and power over academic programs. But he said he’s not sure he would support increased bureaucracy that the proposal might Poweil bring. See POWELL on 3