Tuesday, November 18, 1975
3
University Daily Kansan
Nuclear plant
From page one
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evidence in support of nuclear power," he said. "Sooner or later each one of the issues gets worn out by the pressure of available information."
ONE OF THE KEY ISSUES in the January hearings, Griffin will, be the high cost of construction and operation of a coal-fired plant should be built instead.
In the long run, he said, coal will be easier to get than uranium, the fuel used in a nuclear plant. He said half of the world's coal was in 300 to 500 years, was in the United States.
The country has only enough uranium to last 25 years, he said, and soon will be importing uranium much as it does oil today.
Griffin said the price of uranium had tripled in the past year and was now $25 a pound. The rising price has already caused problems for KGGE and KCPL, who have both filed suit against Westinghouse Corp. over a fuel contract dispute. he said.
WESTINGHOUSE SIGNED a contract with the two power companies to deliver one year's uranium supply for $8 a pound, he said, but has since found it is impractical to sell it for that price and asked to be excused from the contract.
Landes said a coal-fired plant would be too excessive.
Severe shortages of natural gas have caused many power plants to search for fuel alternatives, he said. If they all decide to run at full capacity the industry won't be able to meet the demands.
It would be "tremendously expensive" to burn coal, be said, which must be shipped nearly 1,000 miles from coal fields in Worming.
When compared to the cost of coal, Landes said, the cost of uranium had a "very small impact" on the cost of a kilowatt hour of electricity.
HE SAID PURCHASE of coal amounted
to nearly 20 per cent of the total operational costs for most coal-fired plants.
The plant is expected to cost $1 billion, Griffin said, which is $300 million more than construction of a coal-fired plant would have required. Before machinery would wear out, he said.
Griffin said fuel for the coal plant would cost more than fuel for the nuclear plant, but he questioned whether the difference was due to the increased energy spent in construction of a nuclear plant.
Construction costs for a nuclear plant are 20 to 30 per cent higher than for a coal plant, Landes said, but operating costs would be "much lower."
"THE PROJECTED TOTAL costs of our project indicate that by 1982 nuclear power will be economically advantageous," he said.
KGGE and KCPI must buy water to operate a cooling system for the plant, Griffin said, and are preparing to sign a contract with the state Water Resources Department to supply water a day. The water would be supplied from nearby John Redmond Reservoir, he said.
After the water is used in the cooling system, Griffin said, it would be discharged into a large reservoir on the River. The water would have a high content of chemicals that are used to clean the cooling system pipes, he said, and would be "an incredible burden" on plant and animal systems.
Griffin said the plant might have to recycle water during dry weather and this water would have an especially dangerous chemical content when it was discharged.
Landes said the nuclear plant would store contaminated water in a private reservoir and 'the water will be discharged into Wolf Valley' to newly to prevent environmental problems.
Both Landes and Griffin said that one of the most frequently debased nuclear issues was whether the NSA should be allowed to.
Flutonium, which has been called by its discoverer, John Seaborg, the "most powerful" artificial product of nuclear fission at the plant. It has been estimated that an amount of plutonium the size of a grain of pollen could cause lung cancer if inhaled, Griffin said.
THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT must find a permanent repository for plutonium, which has a half-life (the time required for new quantity to decay) of 240,790 years, he said.
Sine the federal government assumed responsibility for plutonium storage, Griffin said, nuclear power companies don't have any obligation to store it. Thus, he said, the licensing board isn't concerned with how the plant plans to store plutonium.
Landes said, "A number of ways of washing the vases are available, feasible and affordable."
The Energy Research and Development Agency (ERDA), a government agency, has several possible plans for plutonium storage, he said, and will probably choose a permanent storage site within the next decade.
MEANWHILE, HE SAID, plutonium will be reprocessed to reclaim radioactive materials that can be used for future fuel needs.
It's possible, he said, that abandoned salt mines in New Mexico, which are now owned by the federal government, could be selected as a permanent storage site.
But Griffin said that no site would be safe and added that, 1,000 pounds of plutonium have already escaped into the atmosphere from American storage sites.
Because the licensing board can't listen to testimony about platinum waste, Griffin said he'd argue that nuclear machinery was inefficient. He's recent Nebraska lawsuit as an example.
The state of Nebraska recently sued three companies who sold nuclear machinery to
the Nebraska Public Power District for a nuclear power plant.
Griffin said Nebraska sued Westinghouse, General Electric and Chicago Bridge & Iron because, although the companies said the machinery was safe, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission found it couldn't operate safely at more than 60 per cent of its power capacity.
THE COMMISSION SAID VIBRATIONS that occurred when the machinery operated at full capacity increased the possibility of cracks in the cooling system, through which contaminated water could seep, Griffin said.
But Landes said the Wolf Creek plant would be among the five safest nuclear plants in the country because it would be built on a standard plan.
The other four plants are two run by Union Electric near Fulton, Mn., one run by Rochester Gas and Electric Co. in Near Nebraska, North State Power, Co. of Minnesota, he said.
All five plants will be built to withstand the worst conditions in any area Landes said. For instance, he said, the Rochester plant will be prepared for a Kansas tornado, and the Burlington plant will be prepared for a Rochester snowfall.
GRIFFIN SAID THERE there were 56 nuclear plants in the United States and that none had been refused licenses by the Department, he said, it's time to set a new precedent.
Landes said nuclear plants were adequately tested.
"Our progeny will remember us as having consumed much of the world's natural resources, all of its precious metals and most of its oil," he said.
"They will condemn us. The only way we can save our reputation is to leave them with an adequate and reliable source of food, and this will at least enable them to enjoy life."
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ZION Jewish Student Organization (Hillel) WRITE IN
Come and register your declaration against the U.N. anti-Zionist Resolution Tonight! We've got the paper, all we need is you. Tonight, Nov. 18, 7:00. KANSAS UNION, BIG 8 ROOM-JOIN USI
Q NO. 9
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Fred Obermeier Paola, Kansas
In 1924 I attended my first farm protest protest. World War I had ended and farm prices, along with land values had plunged downward, leaving many farmers in dire financial troubles. In the past fifty years I have attended many such farm meetings. Always are the farmers getting together to find some way to gain party with the rest of America. Our Congress has long wrestled with this problem and we have been deigned with oodes of books and scads of articles on the farm problem.
Today many farmers are again facing the challenge of protecting their livestock from economic threats of this economic bleeding in right order. In order to promote economic studies I offer a hundred dollar reward to anyone who can find a solution.
Paid Advertisement
Answers to these questions will appear in next week's paper. Watch for them.
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1975-76 KANSAS BASKETBALL Student Season Ticket Information
Student Ticket Sales Begin Tuesday, Nov.18 thru Thursday, Nov.20 11:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
NOVEMBER 1975
THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
1975-76 BASKETBALL SCHEDULE
NOVEMBER 1975
Nov. 29 (Sat.) ... Murray State
DECEMBER 1975
(Tues.) ...at Southern Methodist
Dec. 2 (Tues.) ... at Southern Metouw.
Dec. 6 (Sat.) ... at Louis University
Dec. 8 (Mon.) ... Notre Dame
Dec. 11 (Thurs.) ... Boise State
Dec. 13 (Sat.) ... Kentucky
Dec. 19 (Fri.) ... Jayhawk Classic
Dec. 20 (Sat.) ... Jayhawk Classic
Dec. 26 (Fri.) ... at big Eight Tournament in Kansas City, Mo.
Dec. 27 (Sat.) ... at big Eight Tournament in Kansas City, Mo.
Dec. 30 (Tues.) ... at big Eight Tournament in Kansas City, Mo.
★ [or until the 7,000 Season Tickets are sold, whichever comes first]
JANUARY 1976
Jan. 8 (Thurs.)... at Oral Roberts University
Jan. 17 (Sat.)... at Missouri
Jan. 23 (Wed.)... State State
 Jan. 24 (Sat.)... at Oklahoma State
Jan. 28 (Wed.)... at Colorado
Jan. 29 (Wed.)... Kenyan State
Feb. 4 (Wed.) ... at Nebraska
Feb. 7 (Wed.) ... Oklahoma
Feb. 11 (Wed.) ... at Iowa State
Feb. 14 (Sat.) ... Oklahoma State
Feb. 18 (Sat.) ... Missouri
Feb. 21 (Sat.) ... at Kansas State
Feb. 28 (Sat.) ... Colorado
FEBRUARY 1976
Mar. 3 (Wed.) ... Nebraska
Mar. 6 (Sat.) ... at Oklahoma
MARCH 1976
1. ENTER THE MAIN LOBBY (EAST) OF AL- LEN FIELD HOUSE.
2. PRESENT CERTIFICATE OF REGISTRATION AT TABLE AND RECEIVE YOUR STUDENT BASKETBALL TICKET UPON PAYMENT OF $10.00.
3. SIGN YOUR STUDENT SEASON TICKET IN THE PRESENCE OF THE TICKET SELLER.
*Spouse season tickets may be purchased for $14.00.* *Housemother season tickets may be applied for at this time.* *No refunds will be made.* *Beginning with the Kansas State game on Jan. 31, student basketball tickets will be valid only if accompanied by spring.* **1976 certificates of registration.**
SINGLE GAME
STUDENT TICKETS
A limited number of single game student tickets will be available on an individual game basis. These individual game tickets will be sold at Allen Field House ONLY on the day of the basketball game from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The student price for individual game tickets will be $2.00. PLEASE NOTE THAT THERE WILL BE NO SINGLE GAME STUDENT TICKETS SOLD AFTER 5:00 P.M. THE DAY OF THE GAME. THERE WILL BE NO ADVANCED SALES.
ALL VARSITY GAMES WILL BEGIN AT 7:35
P.M. EXCEPT THE JAYHAWK CLASSIC WHICH
STARTS AT 7:05 P.M. AND THE KANSAS vs.
OKLAHOMA GAME, SATURDAY, FEB. 7, AT 2:10
P.M.
Be sure to preview the 1975-76 Kansas Jayhawks at the Annual Crimson-Blue Game on Saturday, November 22, at 5 p.m. (following the K.U.-Missouri football game). Your Certificate of Registration will admit you to this game.
SUPPORT THE KANSAS JAYHAWKS
- 1973-74 NCAA Midwest Regional Champions
- 1973-74 Big Eight Champions
- 1974-75 Big Eight Pre-season Tournament Champions
- Fourth Place 1973-74 NCAA Championships
- 1974-75 Big Eight Conference Champions
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