Delaying Nuclear Power

To the dismay of environmentalists, the Atomic Energy Commission insisted for years that its jurisdiction covered only the design and the radiation dangers of nuclear power plants. Then six weeks ago, a federal court ruled that the National Environmental Policy Act required the Commission to consider the effect of such plants on the entire environment. That decision, coupled with the AEC's discovery of flaws in the standard emergency cooling system used by U.S. nuclear plants, will delay the operation of ten nearly completed nukes (nuclear plants), 52 others under construction and 31 on the drawing boards. Last week the AEC's new policies were already affecting two communities that badly needed nuclear power: Midland, Mich., and New York City.

Partly as a result of the postponed approval of a large nuclear power plant in Midland (pop. 35,000), the Dow Chemical Co.-the city's biggest employer-announced that it intends to move one of its small chemical plants to the Gulf Coast, where electrical power is still relatively abundant and cheap. Many Midlanders jumped to the obvious conclusion that if the nukes were not quickly completed and placed in operation, Dow might shut down more of its Midland-based operations. Fearing for their jobs, they bought a full page ad in a local newspaper attacking environmentalist critics, who have questioned several aspects of the nuke. The ad's headline: "Will a Few People Destroy Our Area?"

Fish Stew. One of Midland's leading anti-reactor crusaders, Mrs. William Sinclair, nonetheless remains concerned that accidents in the plant might cause the release of dangerous radioactivity. "This is the first nuclear power plant of this size placed close to a large industrial and population center," she says. "We don't want to delay the plant, just study public-interest issues. Yet I'm now everybody's favorite villain." Last week, although it is the AEC's technical and procedural difficulties-not environmental opposition-that is causing the trouble, protesters littered Mrs. Sinclair's front yard with paper and made insulting phone calls.

New York's Consolidated Edison Co., the nation's largest investor-owned electric utility, has another problem. Its new Indian Point No. 2 nuclear power plant on the Hudson River 35 miles upstream from New York City is almost ready to ease the metropolitan area's growing power shortage. The company has urged the AEC to allow the nuke to begin operating almost immediately, adding that it will later install whatever new environmental safeguards might be required.

The plant's critics, opposing Con Ed's request, charge that Indian Point No. 2 will wreak ecological havoc on the Hudson and decimate its fish population. They say that the company's first nuclear facility, Indian Point No. 1, has been killing striped bass, perch and other species since 1963. According to the Hudson River Fishermen's Association, the nuke was directly responsible for the death of between 310,000 and 475,000 fish in a six-week period last year alone.

While Con Ed's research indicates that its first plant has caused "biologically insignificant" damage to date, the company has actually had to shut it down on occasion to clean water intake pipes clogged with fish stew. To scare fish away from the pipes, Con Ed has unsuccessfully tried electric screens, night lights and noisemakers. What would satisfy critics of the plant is for the company to find a way not to use Hudson River water at all. But Con Ed says such a solution-if possible-would be prohibitively expensive.

Dilemma. Con Ed insists that delaying the new plant will increase its costs by at least $4 million a month. "To impose this heavy financial burden unnecessarily," says Con Ed Chairman Charles F. Luce, "would be completely inconsistent with the national effort to combat inflation and unemployment."

The controversies in Midland and New York City point up an escalating battle that could have a marked effect on the quality of life in the U.S. Unless the growing demand for power can be met, the high standard of living made possible by a highly industrialized society may well be jeopardized. Yet if nuclear plants are allowed to proliferate without proper safeguards, their cumulative effect could produce an ecological disaster.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.