pete

This week representatives of the B. Cc. Medical ~

Association, ©

the Consumers . ‘Association . of - _
Caiada, Surrey council, the NDP and. Green- os
_ peace have turned up in. -force_at a: “hearing - in

radioactive heavy water into

the. St. Lawrence during a

"nuclear plant planned by the...

aa

“Seattle to make their voices heard on a question:
of some considerable. importance to you and me::
The question is whether Puget Sound. Power and’
Light Co: should finally be given the green light. -to:

build a ‘potentially disaster-prone nuclear power

plant on B C. 's doorstep.

The B. Cc. ‘Contingent | is
-joining forces. with an
equally critical group of
Washington State residents
‘koown as Skagitionians
Concerned’ about Nuclear
Plants (SCANP). The
anxieties are not only on the
Canadian side of the border.

The hearing before the -

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory

out for the U.S. Geologic
Survey by a. University of

Washington specialist, Dr.

John Whetten. It disagreed

with an earlier geological .

study by the Bechtel Cor-
poration which placed the
nearest active’ fault -- Devil's
Mountain -—- 15 miles away
from the site.

Bechtel, it should’ be

ncerns fhe

Puget’ group at Sedro
Woolley, Wash., which lies
barely 60 miles. from.
downtown Vancouver -and
less than 40 miles from the |
main evacuation routes from
the Greater Vancouver area
up the Fraser Valley.

Evacuation routes? Yes,
dear reader, that's one of the )
unpleasant things that has to
be considered.

In the accident last March
at the Three Mile Island
nuclear’ plant. near
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, a
nasty bubble of hydrogen
gas, you'll recall, formed in
the reactor. The big fear for
several days wds that. this

would explode, - breaking
open the containment
‘structure and spewing

radioactivity over a wide ~

area. Places up to 150 miles
away from the plant were
mentioned at the time. as
being threatened to the point
where evacuation would be

necessary if the worst
happened. °
EARTHQUAKE

Fortunately -— and, ac-
cording to all reporjs, by
pure good luck rather than
by good management - the
worst ‘didn’t happen. But if
the worst ever did happen, if

the bubble burst, in a similar
‘ nuclear accident at Sedro
Valley, Canadian experts on
the subject say the entire
Lower Mainland would have
to be evacuated.

There’s one big worry
about the Sedro Woolley
site, however, which did not
apply in the case of Three
Mile Island. Sedro Woolley,
located in the Pacific Rim
earthquake. zone, is
suspected of lying between
tworsctive. ‘own the, faults~,

he

emerging from an_ in-—
dependent study of the
bedrock geology of the

Sedro Woollicy site carried

noted, has—been—hired—b

Puget... Power..as:.architect-.

builder of the proposed
nuclear plant. If Dr.
Whetten i is right and Bechtel

is wrong, the chances of a
nuclear accident on the
Harrisburg scale _would
presumably be multiplied at
Sedro Woolley by the ad-
ditional earthquake risk
factor.

$200 MILLION .
SPENT

It is now six years since

the Sedro Woolley -project |
.was first announced and the

Puget Power group is
becoming desperate to get
construction started. It
pleads that peak electricity
loads originally forecast for
1982 are already being used
by its customers, and that a

cold winter in 1980 could
lead to. shortages and >
brownouts.

Puget. has ‘also spent well
over $200 million since 1973

on studies and exploration |

work designed to justify the
proposed Sedro Woolley
plant. You don’t write off

investments of that size
lightly.
Puget argues that its

reactor would be of a dif-
ferent type from the

arrisburg reactor — a
boiling water reactor as
opposed to a pressurized
water reactor — and that
therefore, in the words of
Puget president John Ellis,
“a Three Mile-type accident
can't happen. It's a different
technology.”

As to carthquakes, Ellis
sticks with the study carried
out by Puget’s contractor,
Bechtel, and maintains there
are no faults under the site.
However, further analysis of
all the available geological

- data. is. re are sapee and fuller.
; "py the” *

LEAKS,
BREAKDOWNS

There remains the central
question raised by the Three

can
any type of nuclear reactor
be considered 100-per. cent

‘safe?’

On‘ the evidencé to date
from all around the world
the answer has to be “no”.
The record shows there have
been leaks, breakdowns and
other problems with every
type of peacetime nuclear
plant. ever developed.
Canada herself has no lack
of examples to offer.

All Ontario’s nuclear
plants have recurring
troubles, among’ them
persistent heavy water leaks.

“Suspect safety systems at

Douglas Point limit | that
plant to 70 per ‘cent of
capacity. The total down-
time and repair bill for the
$757 million Pickering plant
is approaching $400 million.
Repairs costing $200 million
are needed at the $1.9 billion
Bruce plant.

Last week the eight-year-

old Gentilly nuclear plant in —

Quebec was mothballed
indefinitely because of
insurmountable technical
problems. Its steam output
has defied regulation and its
other faults include per-
forated heat exchangers
which, a couple of years ago,
leaked 10 metric tons of

No mail
B.C. Day

Postal facilities
throughout the province will
be closed Monday, August

6, in observation of B.C. .

Street letter
collections will be made ona
“Sunday service” basis. Full
postal service will resume

‘Tuesday, August 7.

~
—e_—_—_—_—_—_—_—_—_—_—_—S—S—_S_—_—_=_=—_—=_=—

Johnstone’s Home Appliance Service!

I The

box }

help. ofan. earthquake.

—48-hour period: For over 85

per cent of its life Gentilly

| —produced-virtually-no-power~-Lc

at all and, even in its best
" year, ran_at. only 20-Rer cent
of capacity.
os LOW
RADIATION -

To claim ‘that - a ‘Three’

Mile-type_ accident couldn't
happen at the proposed
Sedro . Woolley plant
because
technology” ‘is meaningless.
entire _ history-
peacetime nuclear - plants
indicates that Sedro Woolley

~ could be perfectly capable of
spawning its own accidents-- —

or disaster -- regardless of

“the exact technology em-_

Aside from the question of ©

a major disaster, there's also
the matter
radiation . emitted ;from- the
plant -under .

level radiation . has been

‘That ’s why the’ .
- Association is. ‘throwing its. :
‘considerable. prestige’ and af

“It’s a different.

of “low-level .

normal —
operating conditions. Low--

linkka to cancer, premature
agingand” genetic: -defects,-
‘and varying quantities of it
could -be.: brought wa tat the ,

‘affects the some. 1.5 million

inhabitants, of the Lower
Mainland. -and: - ‘southern
‘Vancouver ‘Island.- It's: a’

frequent _ souther

weight behind. -

challengers of the. Sedro |
‘Woolley plant. .

o. :

- Ve

_ The drama ‘that. unfolds
this week in Seattle vitally

Fai

health, the health -
‘children (born. and unborn),
‘and’ how long we all may
- expect tolive. Td

drama well worth following
. . closely. The scenario tends —
‘toget complicated. at-various —
points,” ‘but the gut issue

remains simple.

“What they're: ultimately a
talking. about is your and my
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