University Daily Kansan / Thursday, November 10, 1988
Nation/World
7
Air Force grounds B-1s for safety inspections
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The Air Force yesterday grounded the nation's fleet of B-1B long-range bombers for a precautionary safety inspection following a crash of one of the new planes in Texas.
The flight suspension order will be followed within the next day or two by specific instructions to B-1B mechanics on what aircraft systems need to be installed. LT. Col. George Peckey, a spokesman at SAC headquarters in Omaha.
The Strategic Air Command, which is responsible for land-based nuclear bomber and missile forces, said the order to suspend flying was a "normal precaution" in the wake of a major accident.
Those instructions will probably reflect the suspicions of the official board of inquiry that is investigating
Tuesday's crash of a B-1B near Dyss Air Force Base, Texas.
Peck said he did not know which systems would be checked and would not speculate on the cause of the crash. He said the inspection was expected to require two to four hours an aircraft.
Eyewitnesses to Tuesday's crash have said they saw smoke and fire trailing an engine on the plane. All four crewmen managed to eject safely from the stricken bomber, which was ashhed in a field outside Abildme, Texas.
The spokesman said the flight suspension order would not affect the B-1B's currently standing alert, and it would take offe in the event of nuclear war.
In Texas, the Air Force set up a roadblock to seal off the crash site yesterday and sent in military investigators.
Nuclear plant restart undecided
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — An atomic reactor at the Savannah River Plant probably will not restart as scheduled at the end of December, further delaying new supplies of critical nuclear weapons materials, said an Energy Department safety official.
In the past few months, nuclear weapons production has ground to a virtual halt. Safety concerns shut down the three reactors at Savannah River near Aiken, S.C.; a contamination incident and related problems closed a building at the Rocky Flats Plant near Denver; and a strike shutdown the Feed Materials Production Center in Fernald, near Cincinnati, Ohio.
"My own view is that we have been making insufficient progress at the site to meet such a (December) date," said Richard W. Starostecki, acting assistant energy secretary for environment, safety and health.
The Savannah江 Reactors are the only facilities in the United States now capable of producing plutonium and tritium, which are needed for nuclear weapons. Plutonium supplies are limited because we reuse problems sometime in the next six months, congressional and administration sources have said.
Starostecki compared the state of the federal nuclear weapons complex to that of the commercial nuclear industry after the accident at the Three Mile Island in October 1979.
Three and half years. He said it would take years to install safer equipment and raise training standards to levels commensurate with those found in private industry.
To outline restart plans and get a firmer grip on a timetable for Savannah River, Starostecki said, he was meeting this week with managers from the department's office in Aken and from the E.I. DuPont
Nemours Co., the contract operator, and the Westinghouse Corp., which is to take over the plant on April 1.
Last month, Energy Secretary John S. Herrington said he hoped to begin a phased start-up of the plant's K-reactor in December, reaching 50 percent capacity in a few months, which began operation in 1954, are restricted to 50 percent of full power due to safety concerns.
"We will provide the secretary with an estimate of what it takes and when . . . by the end of the month," Starostecki said.
A spokesman for DuPont at Savannah River, Becky Apter, said "the last date I heard was December 31," and that was subject to delay.
Starostecki said the department would develop what he called "compensatory" operating procedures to allow safe operation of the closed facilities. For Savannah River, those
steps include:
- requiring reactor operators to practice accident control techniques extensively on a simulator.
- requiring the presence of a degree-holding engineer in the control room.
- adding more highly trained managers and operators to the staffs of he contractor and the regional department office.
- reorganizing and improving communication between contractor and departmental employees, in particular assuring that those who manage and analyze the plant are in close contact with those in the control room.
- developing detailed technical criteria on the operation of the plant, and making sure it is in the hands of the staff to step which has not been taken before.
Mitchell, attorney general convicted in Watergate, dies
analyzing the ability of the reactors to withstand earthquakes.
WASHINGTON — Former attorney general John M. Mitchell, who authorized the Watergate break-in and then went to prison for conspiring to cover up the burglary, died last night of a heart attack. He was 75.
The Associated Press
Mitchell collapsed on a sidewalk in Georgetown and died at 6:27 p.m., said Claudia Dominitz, a spokesman for Energy Washington University Hospital.
Mitchell, the first attorney general to be convicted of a crime, served a
19-month prison term for his role in the Watergate cover-up. He was convicted along with Nixon's chief of staff H.R. Haldeman and the president's domestic counselor, John D. Ehrlichman, who also served $1 \frac{1}{2}$ years in prison.
Mitchell was Nixon's closest adviser. He was Nixon's law partner and mentor, then ran his 1968 and 1972 election campaigns.
Nixon, who was a year older,
leaved up to Mitchell as a father
factor.
News Roundup
JUSTICE OFFICIAL RESIGNING: Justice Department official William Bradford Reynolds, who championed the Reagan administration's controversial civil rights policies for more than seven years, announced Wednesday that he is resigning, effective Dec. 9. Reynolds spearheaded the Reagan administration's opposition to affirmative action hiring and promotion programs and other anti-discrimination tools that had been at the heart of federal civil rights policies since the 1960s. Liberals expressed pleasure over his resignation, while conservatives praised his record.
PLO REQUESTS ARAFAT VISA: The Palestine Liberation Organization said yesterday it has
ISRAELI PATROL KILLS BOY: An Israeli patrol opened fire at stone-throwing Palestinians in Gaza City yesterday, killing a 3-year-old boy and wounding two youths, Arab reports said. The clash came as Palestinians marked
requested a U.S. visa for chairman Yasser Arafat so he can address the U.N. General Assembly after his organization decides whether to declare an independent Palestinian state. Secretary of State George P. Shultz said in a letter made public yesterday that Arafat is not welcome in the United States. A spokesman for the U.S. Mission indicated, however, that Arafat and two other officials of the PLO were likely to be granted limited visas for U.N. business.
the start of the 12th month of their uprising against Israeli occupation. Palestinians blocked roads with burning tires, unfurled illegal Palestinian flags and closed businesses with a general strike.
RESEARCHERS FIND NEW EVIDENCE: Researchers have found evidence that a single gene can help trigger schizophrenia and have estimated its approximate location. Their approach may help find new treatments for a disorder that strikes one in 100 people. The gene also may predispose people to a personality disorder that makes them loners or to other mental conditions thought unrelated to schizophrenia.
located just one block north of the Union • above Yello Sub
Rose's Chicken
12th & Indiana 841-2310
My Aunt Rose's favorite recipe for chicken. A delicious marinated, boneless, skinless, chicken breast grilled to perfection, topped with a pineapple slice and served on a whole wheat bun.
Healthy and scrumptuous.
Who knows, with this IBM PS/2, I may be so organized even my socks will match. So stop by today and find out just what the IBM Personal System/2 can do for you.
And this year I really mean it. So I'm buying myself an IBM Personal System/2 computer. Why? Because it comes with everything you need to begin computing right away. Just take a look at the "KU PS/2 Jayhawk Packages" to see what I mean. And not only is the IBM PS/2 easy to learn and use, it offers you the right performance at the right price.
Orders accepted from November 1 to December 7, 1988.
Hands on demonstration available daily from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM at the Jayhawk Bookstore and Academic Computer Center.
***Prices do not include sales tax
"This year I'll get organized."
THE BIGGER PICTURE
IBM CORPORATION 1988
INDIA CLUB presents DWALL NITE
at Cordley School Gymnasium, 19th or Vermont on 12th November 1988 at 5:30 pm
A Night of Classical Indian Dances by highly acclaimed artists from Minneapolis Rani Ramaswamy e Rita Mustalph
Dinner follows entertainment
: Members $6, Non-members $8, at the gate $9
available at SUA4-3477, Romi Singh 841-9906
Food Catered by Mother India Restaurant, Kansas City
© 1988 American Express Travel Related Services Companies, Inc.
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