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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 1, 1988)
J Page 2AThe BattalionAThursday, September 1, 1988 Opinion im&vues ©If® HCUSION K»T I"" 1/V A i^N/ A X and to the Republicans for which it stands... ” Nuking nuclear energy smart solution to deadly problem Can you name an energy source that currently sup plies only a small amount of the en ergy needs of the United States, is not terribly effi cient, and pro duces hazardous by-products that remain potentially lethal for thou sands of years? thing like this: The United States cur rently has millions upon millions of gal lons of high-level nuclear waste and no place to dispose of any of it. As one ob server put it, it’s like building a com mode and not building a septic tank to go along with it — after a while you’re going to run into a problem. Dean Sueltenfuss Yes, you guessed it! It’s nuclear en ergy. I know, I know. All of you pro-nu clear people are already getting upset, aren’t you? “What?!” you’re all saying. “Nuclear energy is wonderful!” Right now, all of our high-level nu clear waste is being stored in above ground, temporary storage facilities around the country. The federal gov ernment is currently trying to force Ne vada into accepting a permanent under ground storage facility, but there’s a small problem — Nevada doesn’t want it. And it’s doing everything it can to keep from getting the nuclear waste. So it could be many, many years before we actually have a permanent storage fa cility. In addressing the issue of waste dis posal many of these proponents seem to show a callous disregard for the envi ronment. Physics Professor Bernard L. Cohen of the University of Pittsburgh, in a paper titled “Myths about High- Level Radioactive Waste,” states that leakage from an underground storage facility is nothing to worry about be cause “it would be easy to warn people not to drink water that is excessively contaminated and not to use it for irri gation of food crops.” Admittedly, nuclear energy does have some advantages over other en ergy sources. However, these good points are strongly outweighed by its numerous negative aspects. First of all, extremely dangerous con sequences would occur in the event of a mishap at a nuclear reactor. If you don’t believe that, I suggest you think back to the Chernobyl tragedy in 1986. And for those of you who want some evidence a little closer to home there’s always Three Mile Island. Oh, sure, nobody got killed then, but I wonder how many cases of cancer that accident caused. But guess what? Even if we do man age to create a permanent storage fa cility, the fun’s not over. You see, no body is really certain how safe it is to store nuclear waste underground. Many scientists are concerned that the waste could leak into aquifers and contami nate water supplies, thus endangering humans, plants, and animals. What a brilliant idea. When we contaminate certain aspects of our environment to such an extent that we can no longer use them, we’ll just abandon them. Forests contaminated? No problem. We just won’t take vacations there any more. Secondly, the overall cost of produc ing electricity at nuclear plants is often higher than the cost of producing elec tricity at traditional, coal-powered plants. One of the main claims made by supporters of nuclear energy in the 1960’s and 1970’s was that it would be an economically viable energy source. With construction costs running into bil lions of dollars for individual nuclear power plants, the economics of nuclear energy indeed seems questionable. If you’re still not convinced of the evils of nuclear energy, don’t worry — I saved the best for last. By the time all this nuclear garbage that we’re polluting the world with has much of an impact on the environment, our generation will be dead and gone. The people that will really be affected will be our children and grandchildren. In fact, it is possible that by using nuclear energy now we could be affecting people who won’t be born until thousands of years from now. Cities full of radioactive waste? Don’t worry. Just evacuate the citizens. I’m still not sure how we’re going to tell all of the animals to leave the con taminated areas. Maybe we can put up signs or something. For example, plutonium, which is a by-product of nuclear power plants, has a half-life of 24,000 years, and is consid ered to present a hazard for at least 250,000 years. In the final analysis, no matter what type of smokescreens or arguments nu clear proponents try to put out, one ba sic truth still exists: Using nuclear en ergy today will certainly have negative effects on the world tomorrow — effects that are dire enough to justify seeking out a new energy source and abolishing nuclear energy as soon as we possibly can. Then there is the problem of waste disposal. The current situation is some- Nuclear energy proponents would no doubt try to refute the aforementioned drawbacks of nuclear energy, stating Dean Sueltenfuss is a senior journa lism major and columnist for The Bat talion. The Battalion (USPS 045 360) Member of Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Conference The Battalion Editorial Board Lydia Berzsenyi, Editor Becky Weisenfels, Managing Editor Anthony Wilson, Opinion Page Editor Richard Williams, City Editor D AJensen, Denise Thompson, News Editors Hal Hammons, Sports Editor Jay Janner, Art Director Leslie Guy, Entertainment Editor Editorial Policy The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting newspa per operated as a community service to Texas A&M and Bryan-College Station. Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the editorial board or the author, and do not necessarily rep resent the opinions of Texas A&M administrators, fac ulty or the Board of Regents. The Battalion also serves as a laboratory newspaper for students in reporting, editing and photography classes within the Department of Journalism. The Battalion is published Monday through Friday during Texas A&M regular semesters, except for holiday and examination periods. Mail subscriptions are $17.44 per semester, $34.62 per school year and $36.44 per full year. Advertising rates furnished on request. Our address: The Battalion, 230 Reed McDonald, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-1 111. Second class postage paid at College Station, TX 77843. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Battal ion, 216 Reed McDonald, Texas A&M University, Col lege Station TX 77843-4111. BLOOM COUNTY Mail Call Don’t say the ‘L’ word EDITOR: I would like to say something concerning the Opinion Page. 1 didn’t know the SterlingC.Evat Library was in such sorry shape! Obviously the exterior is in need of' repair, but I wasn’t aware of their; situation inside. Only two days into the school year, and I he Battalion has already made its liberal biases obvious. First off, there’s the column slamming Republican vice presidential nominee Dan Quayle, written by the liberal hero, Mike Royko. We have had two of Margulies’ anti- Quayle cartoons appear. When did Greeks start taking attendance in group study? That’s J interesting if true, especially sinceii| sounds more like somethingthe( would do. Just call me proud to be “only” an Aggie and not a Greeknol cadet. And now, our latest “all-knowing” editorial columnist, Suna Purser joins These people maintain that Republicans are no good for our country. Funny — I thought Jimmy Carter won the award for “most blunders in a four-year term.” Surprisingly enough, neither the | guest-writer nor the admittedly humorous editorialist mentionedtli| reoccuring problem of “a man exp himself’ or “a man masturbating”o 3rd floor. Isn’t that where the Greelsl are now reported to be gathering? Please, please get some conservatives on the Opinion Page. I’m sick of reading only liberal ideology. Jeff Frank ’91 I won’t even comment on thenoistl level — that’s a whole letter untoitsdl Steve Rikli ’89 Evans Library any thing but sterling EDITOR: Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 i length. The editorial staff reserves the right to tdti for style and length, hut will make every efforttoi tain the author’s intent. Each letter must be itgnj must include the classification, address and I number of the writer. Aggie’s heart really in little city E that it is a safe and economical means of producing electricity. Many of the peo ple who strongly support the use of nu clear energy do so because they have some sort of dependence upon nuclear energy as their livelihood. It is therefore not suprising that many of these sup porters are directly involved in the nu clear energy industry. Driving down the backroads of good old College Station, Texas, I and memories of the ease of small-i: life came back to me in flashes. c Janet Goode longed for the r'. « ♦ i • ♦ , . P , , Guest Columnist bright lights and s k y -scraping buildings of big- The reasons that I chose to school in College Station in the place were forefront in my mind: city life. After four years of watching bluebonnets grow by day and the stars twinkle at night, I wished for noise pol lution, smog and traffic. I wanted to see one person who didn’t look the same. Someone who traded in his faded Wranglers for pleated pants and a tie. Maybe someone with purple hair who dared to be different. (Purple-haired people were not a common sight in Col lege Station.) • Having a fenced-in backyard I my dog instead of having to calla| sitting service and taking him fori athon walks after work. tr nc ah tta a t>> da P" • Being able to walk in the park: dark. • Feeling safe and secure in house with all the windows operl night. th th n- ic irs dr The ever-so familiar T exas twang (as in “Hooowdy!”) began to grate on my nerves and the small-town friendliness that I once found comforting, I now found sappy. • Laying on the driveway and wata ing stars fall. • Bargains on beer, pizza and ha! burgers—the staffs oflife. Dollar movies and 6 percent So, with a force of friction built up be hind me, I made one impulsive move. Within one week, I graduated from col lege, got a job, and moved to Houston. tax. • Friendly people who don’t ho but help, when your car stalls. Driving into the city, I felt a great rush. A new biginning! A place where absolutely no one knew my name! And most impressive — BUILDINGS OVER FOUR STORIES TALL! Familiarity. Peace. And quiet. It wasn’t good enough for me to live NEAR the city, either. I found an apart ment complex smack dab in the middle of the “inner loop”. Never mind the fact that the apartment I am leasing costs about half of my monthly salary. I traded in a sense of belonging sense of adventure — and got lost. II never before known the swirling, scending feeling of being displaced. It’s exciting, but scary. You can lau| or you can cry. It is an apartment complex full of city life. Six swimming pools, raquetball courts and yuppies — all fenced in with security gates. It wasn’t until later that I made the connection — high security means high crime. (This area in which I chose to live happens to have the second highest homicide rate in the city and a half-way house prison down the street.) But it's not all bad. It leaves time for re-adjusting oni inside. When your life has been throvj up in the air and is coming down I pieces all around you, they can pick! up one at a time and examined. Thl you can discard the rubbish. Never mind. Life was wonderful. I didn’t think I would miss the hum-drum monotonous life in which I previously had lived. I didn’t know that homesick ness ever struck “soon-to-be 23-year olds on their own in the big city.” Change is the essence of growth. Ar! if we’re not growing, we’re decaying. And I’m sure that soon enough I wi find backroads and stars and all thinj familiar right here in Houston. Until yesterday. Thoughts and feelings, experiences Janet Goode is a journalism gra: uate, former Battalion staff memb assistant editor o/'The Village Life; guest columnist forThe Battalion. by Berke Breath)