800324 World Power Attack

800324 World Power Attack

=== **Page: 1 of 8**

The Oregonian
Two nuclear plants shut down
By The Associated Press March 24, 1980
Equipment problems prompted the shutdown Sunday of reactors at two nuclear power plants, including one in Connecticut that went out of service for the fifth time in five weeks.
Officials at the Millstone nuclear plant in Waterford, (Conn.) said operators shut down the No. 2 unit after discovering a malfunction in a device that reheats water as it is circulated through a steam generator. There was no release of radiation, officials said.
In Southport, (N.C.) the No. 1 nuclear reactor at the Brunswick plant, owned by Carolina Power and Light Co., automatically shut down at 1 a.m. when a water level indicator malfunctioned, according to a company spokesman.
Mac Harris, public relations officer for the utility, said small amounts of radiation were released inside the containment building, but that they were well within permissible levels. No radiation was released outside the plant, he said.
Washington
Oregonian March 22, 1980 to "
Fear noted near plant
WASHINGTON (AP) - Civic leaders from central Pennsylvania told the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Friday that riots could erupt if the agency allows radioactive gas to be vented from the crippled Three Mile Island nuclear plant.
Six people, including a psychologist, a clergyman and a hospital administrator, said the fear of radiation might drive thousands of residents near the facility to violence.
"We're fearful of some kind of riots or something up there if the deterioration continues," said Jane Lee, a farmer from Etters, about six miles from the plant.
"As a psychologist, I'm scared. Unless people get a realistic feeling that they're in control of their lives again, their anger is going to be increasing," added Robert Colman of Harrisburg.
The NRC met for about an hour with the spokesmen, who calmly advised the commission that its wisest course might be to abandon plans to restore the stricken plant.
N-Plant to Close For Fuel, Repairs
Miami Herald 3/14/80
Florida Power and Light Company's nuclear unit No. 3 on Hutchinson Island will be shut down this weekend for refueling, maintenance and minor modifications ordered by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).
The work will take an estimated eight weeks, said Harry Schindehette, FPL district manager. "We anticipate having enough generation to meet all demands while the nuclear unit is down, but it will mean using more oil, which is expensive."
Maintenance will include replacing one-third of the steel rods containing uranium fuel pellets and rotating the remaining rods.
The work was ordered by the NRC after the Three Mile Island accident, but FPL was allowed to delay modifications until the shutdown for refueling, the disc.
While the plant is closed, drain pans will be installed under motors that run pumps circulating reactor coolant water. In some plants, oil from pumps has dropped onto hot pipes.
World Power Attack
Fire hits N-site
MIDLAND, Mich. (AP) - Fire destroyed a temporary office complex Wednesday at the site of Consumers Power Co.'s nuclear plant under construction here.
It was the second fire this week at the complex, which was used by utility workers to draft operating procedures for the nuclear facility, said Consumers spokesman Norm Saari. 3/27/80
World Power Attack
Work stoppage at Hanford end
Richland, Wash. (AP) 3/27/80
The 2,300 idled by a labor dispute at the Hanford nuclear projects Nos. 1 and 4 could begin returning to work Wednesday, according to a spokesman for the Washington Public Power Supply System.
The workers walked off the job March 14.
Neil Strand, WPPSS managing director, said managers involved in the dispute met with management Tuesday to resolve the issues.
The unions agreed to provide the contract that no more work stoppages would occur.
Fred Read, project manager of the contractor, said it would take two or three days to gear up to normal work levels and rehire the 2,300 workers.
Federal Judge Robert McNichols on Monday issued a restraining order against the two unions primarily involved in the dispute.
The order resulted from an unfair labor charge filed by the contract.
World "Power" Attacks

=== **Page: 2 of 8**

Oregonian World Power Attack
March 27, 1980

U.S.'s biggest nuclear utility

indicted in security case

By ROBERT PEAR
New York Times News Service

WASHINGTON - The Commonwealth Edison Co., the country's biggest nuclear utility, and two of its officials were indicted Wednesday on charges of conspiracy and false statements relating to alleged breaches of security at the company's nuclear power plant on the Mississippi River at Cordova, Ill.

A Justice Department spokesman, Dean St. Dennis, said the indictment represented the first time such charges had been brought against a nuclear power company.

The nine-count indictment, returned by a federal grand jury in Springfield, Ill., said the company and two senior employees had conspired to evade compliance with a security plan for operation of the plant, known as the Quad-Cities Nuclear Station. The security plan had been approved by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the federal agency that licenses atomic power plants.

At its headquarters in Chicago, Commonwealth Edison issued a statement saying, "The company believes it is not guilty of any wrongdoing, has violated no laws and intends to defend itself and its employees vigorously."

William Harrah, a spokesman for Commonwealth Edison, said the company, which provides electricity for northern Illinois including Chicago, was the biggest nuclear utility in the country. He said that about one-third of the company's total generating capacity was nuclear, but that the company used that capacity to generate 40 percent to 45 percent of its electricity.

The superintendent of the Quad-Cities plant, Nicholas Kalivianakis, and the plant's security director, Walter Meehan, were also named as defendants. Harrah said that both men were still working for the company.

The indictment alleged that as part of the conspiracy, the defendants ordered security guards to falsify records by omitting the fact that protective doors leading to the vital area of the plant had been found unlocked and unguarded. The indictment also said that the defendants had ordered the guards to omit from their records the discovery of unescorted visitors in protected and vital areas of the plant.

The alleged conspiracy continued from early 1976 to April 1977, the indictment said.

Company officials said that the Quad-Cities plant consists of two boiling-water reactors with a combined capacity of more than 1,100 megawatts.

Commonwealth Edison was charged in all nine counts of the indictment.

Kalivianakis and Meehan were each charged with conspiracy and with six counts of false statements.

The maximum penalty for each count of conspiracy or false statement is five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

The defendants are scheduled to be arraigned April 9 before Judge J. Waldo Ackerman in U.S. District Court in Springfield.

There are 67 nuclear plants licensed to provide electricity in the United States, and combined they supply slightly more than 10 percent of the nation's electricity.

Wednesday's indictment came amid a continuing controversy over the adequacy of security precautions at nuclear installations. Most of the concern has been directed at facilities that manufacture nuclear material for weapons and fuel for the Navy's nuclear fleet.

But experts also worry about the possibility that a terrorist gang might seize a reactor near a major American city and then use conventional explosives to breach the containment wall, permitting the release of large amounts of radiation. It is because of such worries that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has in recent years upgraded security requirements at all nuclear facilities.

- World "Power" Attack -

=== **Page: 3 of 8**

A8 2M THE OREGONIAN, SATURDAY, MARCH 29, 1980

In America, Europe
Arrests, vigils mark TMI date

By The Associated Press

Fifty-six anti-nuclear protesters were arrested Friday at the New Jersey headquarters of the utility that owns the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in one of several demonstrations on the first anniversary of the nation's worst commercial nuclear accident.

At Middletown, Pa., about 200 people, including reporters, gathered in a yard just a few hundred feet from the damaged Three Mile Island plant.

The nuclear foes lit white candles and sang a protest song at 4 a.m., exactly the time when a series of mechanical breakdowns and human errors triggered the accident March 28, 1979, and radioactive gas escaped from the plant.

The plant now sits virtually silent on a speck of land in the Susquehanna River, 10 miles from the state Capitol in Harrisburg. It has become a symbol of anti-nuclear activism around the world and was the focal point of protests across America and Europe.

Peaceful anti-nuclear observances were conducted at power plants and utilities in Connecticut, Viginia, California and Texas, and more were planned throughout the weekend.

About 200 people demonstrated peacefully at the corporate headquarters of General Public Utilities in Parsippany, N.J.; 56 of them were arrested after they entered company property.

Some of the protesters jumped a 4-foot snow fence, and others tried to shoulder through police lines. Police carried away some of the demonstrators and loaded them into buses. Those arrested were being charged with criminal trespass.

About 40 people demonstrated outside the gates of Northeast Utilities in Berlin, Conn., and two women were arrested for interfering with employees entering the facility, authorities said.

At Three Mile Island, area residents paraded before a microphone to express fear and anger over the accident. One of several signs and banners read: "Close TMI Or We'll All Die."

"Now's the time to talk about that monstrosity just behind me. I hate that plant, I hate that plant," said Terry Roth of the anti-nuclear March 28 Coalition, which organized the two days of commemorative observances.

"Shutting down that plant is one of the most important things of my life," she added.

A woman who said she survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima 35 years ago called the crowd "hibakkusha," a revered Japanese word that means survivor of a nuclear catastrophe.

"Although my health is now weak, I have come all the way from Hiroshima to here to appeal for a world that is free of nukes," said 59-year-old Chisako Odori- ba through an interpreter.

Some speakers carried babies, shed tears or spoke in trembling voices.

"My life has been a total disaster since the accident. I'm tired of being lied to. I feel like a hostage in my own home," said Barb Nace of Harrisburg.

Cailin Patterson, an 11-year-old Harrisburg girl, added, "So-called accidents like TMI affect children the most. We don't want to grow up thinking that someday we may get cancer. We don't know whether to believe grownups anymore."

Note: "The Phenomenon"
will utilize any means
to neutralize "Power"
around the world!
(Electric, nuclear, coal,
oil, etc.)

-vens

3

=== **Page: 4 of 8**

Oregonian 3/30/80
- World "Power" Attack -
Anniversary of Three Mile Island

THE SUNDAY OREGONIAN, MARCH 30, 1980 3M A15

accident sparks protests nationwide

By The Associated Press

About 7,000 people heard anti-nuclear songs and speeches Saturday at a rally in Harrisburg, Pa., to commemorate the anniversary of the Three Mile Island accident. It was the largest of a series of protest rallies around the nation.

In Missouri, 26 demonstrators were arrested on charges of trespassing on the grounds of a nuclear generating station.

and Linda Ronstadt, who said she felt strongly enough about nuclear power to overcome a reluctance to "mix music and politics."

Seeger said, "If we don't stop nuclear power

In Oregon, the state Democratic Party voted at a convention in Seaside to include an anti-nuclear plank in its platform. It calls for the shutdown of the Trojan power plant near Rainier, the state's only nuclear generating station.

Organizers of the Harrisburg demonstration hoped to draw 10,000 people to the state Capitol, which is just a few miles from the plant, but

ered as a prelude to a demonstration Sunday at the Vermont Yankee atomic power plant in Vernon. In Austin, Texas, about 200 people heard anti-nuclear speeches and music outside the state-

a cold drizzle cut into attendance. One banner held by a participant read, "Hell No, We Won't Glow."

Entertainment was provided by singers Stephen Stills, Pete Seeger

house.

A solar-powered sound system carried the music in a rally by about 200 people outside the Tennessee Valley Authority's Sequoyah nuclear power plant near Chattanooga, Tenn. A rally also was held in Baltimore Saturday, and another was staged in Russellville, Ark.

Police arrested 26 persons who entered the grounds of a nuclear generating station in Callaway County, Mo., and charged them with trespassing. They were released on their own recognizance and ordered to appear April 18, in county circuit court.

Other protesters were arrested Friday in New Jersey, Texas and Connecticut. The New Jersey arrests were at the Parsippany headquarters of General Public Utilities Corp., which owns the Three Mile Island plant.

Trespassing charges were filed against 67 of the approximately 200 people participating in the rally.

Protests were also held Friday in Nebraska, New York, Michigan, Ohio, Missouri, Maryland, Arizona, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Tennessee.

A few hundred feet from the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Middletown, Pa., 200 people began a candlelight vigil at 4 a.m. Friday, the same time when a series of mechanical breakdowns and human errors triggered the accident March 28, 1979. It was the worst nuclear accident at a commercial power plant in the United States.

Overheating and loss of cooling water brought the reactor close to a meltdown and caused the release of radioac-

tive gas.

In a televised debate on nuclear energy in Harrisburg, panelist Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., said: "The people of America and the experts don't trust any credibility. Nuclear power is a failure and doesn't have a future."

4

=== **Page: 5 of 8**

Democrats' platform
asks Trojan shutdown

By SANDRA MCDONOUGH 3/30/80
Of The Oregonian staff

SEASIDE — The Democratic Party of Oregon began hammering out a typically liberal party platform Saturday, taking stands against nuclear power and capital punishment and in favor of gay rights, gun control and legalizing cultivation of marijuana.

About 500 Oregon Democrats gathered at the Seaside Convention Center this weekend for the party's biennial platform convention. Following the pattern of the last decade, the convention was dominated by young, liberal Democrats.

An example of the platform convention's liberal overtones was debate over the energy planks for the 1980 platform, particularly its proposal calling for decommissioning of Portland General Electric Co.'s Trojan Nuclear Plant. A similar proposal was adopted for the party's 1978 platform.

During debate over the Trojan plant issue, opponents of nuclear power said the volcanic activity on Mount St. Helens illustrates the precariousness of the Trojan plant site near Rainier.

"The fault that Trojan exists on is engaged in nuclear activity — and for the people of Portland there is no evacuation plan," said John Stewart, a Lane County delegate to the convention.

Some Democrats opposed the anti-Trojan platform, saying it was "extremist and irresponsible" at a time when the nation faces an energy shortage.

"We have no alternative if we shut down Trojan at this time. Are you going to shut off your electricity if we shut down Trojan?" asked Terry Ogle, a Clatsop County delegate.

"Yes," yelled scores of convention delegates.

=== **Page: 6 of 8**

-WORLD "POWER" ATTACK-
NUCLEAR POWER PLANT SHUT DOWN
Arrests made in nuclear plant protest

CHRISTOPHER GRAFF 3/31/80
VERNON (VT.) (AP) - Dozens of anti-nuclear demonstrators in a crowd that had numbered 1,000 were arrested Sunday night for blocking the main gate of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant.

Police began making arrests around 7 p.m., when plant workers who were going off duty sought to drive their cars out the gate but found the way blocked.

About 50 protesters had been arrested by 9 p.m.

The demonstration, timed to coincide with the anniversary of last year's accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania, followed a rally in nearby Brattleboro, Vt.

The demonstrators marched the five miles to the plant carrying American flags and banners proclaiming "No Nukes" and "Yankee Go Home."

Soon after the more than 1,000 demonstrators had arranged themselves outside the 540-megawatt plant Sunday afternoon, plant security chief Bill Penniman told them to leave.

"You are trespassing and you are not welcome on these premises," he said. "Please leave immediately."

Then police waited three hours for darkness and falling temperatures to thin the crowd to several hundred before making arrests.

Under a glare of lights from the huge plant, troopers walked into the crowd and began choosing individuals for arrest. None resisted, although some had to be carried to police vans. The vans carried them to state police bar-

racks where officials said they would be cited for trespassing and then released.

At about 8:30 p.m. some 50 state troopers marched through the crowd to the main gate, clearing a path for the departing plant workers' cars.

In an earlier protest, about 7,000 persons gathered for anti-nuclear songs and speeches in Harrisburg, Pa., on Saturday to commemorate the TMI anniversary.

In addition, 13 persons - eight of whom refused to give their names - remained in jail in New Jersey on Sunday following their arrest for trespassing on the corporate headquarters of General Public Utilities Corp., the owner of the stricken Three Mile Island reactor.

Vermont authorities had prepared for similar civil disobedience. Unlike last September, when Vermont's correctional and court systems were clogged by protesters withholding their identities, police said they would photograph and fingerprint arrested demonstrators but would not ask for their names.

"The state is willing to do what it can to prevent a crippling of the courts and justice system," said R. Paul Wicks, who represented Vermont Gov. Richard Snelling at the scene.

Inside the plant, workers began shutting down the reactor to allow technicians to repair a leaky steam valve and make other minor adjustments.

=== **Page: 7 of 8**

Note: Benny & I recently spent 3 days in Hermiston.

Ozone leak fells
33 at Boardman

3/29/80

HERMISTON (AP) - At least 33 construction workers from the Boardman coal-fired power plant have been treated at a Hermiston hospital for minor exposure to ozone, a doctor said Thursday.

Dr. Bruce Carlson, an attending physician at Good Shepard Hospital, said 24 workers were treated Wednesday and another nine on Thursday.

Some 400 workers ended a one-day walkout at the plant site early Thursday after complaining of the smell of ozone during the testing of equipment.

The 33 workers were treated in the emergency room but none was admitted to the hospital, Carlson said. The symptoms included chest pains, dizziness, nausea, headaches, sore throat and nose irritation, he said.

Portland General Electric Co. officials had said there was no danger from the ozone leakage during testing of an electrostatic precipitator. The machine removes fly ash and normally produces ozone while operating.

Plant construction manager Ad Starner said it was hard to tell the number of workers absent from the site Thursday because there is normally a 10 percent absentee rate every day.

At least one state health inspector was at the site Thursday.

Starner said the ozone leaked into the main part of the plant because two dampers were opened during some duct work. He said monitoring equipment would be used during further testing.

PGE spokesman Dave Eagon said the ozone was measured at .01 parts per million Wednesday noon, or 10 times less than an amount to become concerned about. The walkout occurred about 10 a.m.

He said about 1,100 persons are currently employed at the site.

- World "Power" Attack -

6

=== **Page: 8 of 8**

World Power attack
oregonian 3/30/80

Radio broadcast panics islanders

PORT ALBERNI, British Columbia (AP) — A realistic radio documentary about a 1964 tidal wave combined with a power outage to frighten many residents of this Vancouver Island town, officials said.

"One man left work to get to his family," after hearing the Friday evening broadcast, said Wayne Moore, an announcer for radio station CJAV. "One man tried to charter a plane."

The station was broadcasting a documentary on a tidal wave that hit 16 years ago. The program began with a simulated news report on the approach of a wall of water, and at that instant a failure at a local power substation blacked out the Alberni Valley.

Power was restored five minutes later, but by that time a lot of people were jittery.

"I know that MacMillan Bloedel (a pulp company) was making plans to evacuate," said Mike Kindratsky, an auxiliary constable of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Moore said company employees began moving trucks to higher ground.

Officials said they didn't know whether anyone actually left town after hearing the tidal wave report.

CJAV employees said the 35-minute documentary was promoted in advance, although it appeared some people had not heard about it.

"We had a bunch of calls about that ... asking if it was true," said Kindratsky.

Moore said the station switchboard "was lit up solid for about 15 minutes."

After power was restored, CJAV began the program again from the beginning. However, 10 minutes later it was forced to interrupt the show again to offer reassurance that there was no tidal wave and that the program was a dramatization.