SLIME, INC.

The petition was pretty tame and did not even ask for a moratorium (or Prof. Kendall, the one and only nuclear physicist of the Union of Concerned Scientists, would not have signed it). Even so, the 2,300 non-nuclear scientists who were suckered into signing it hardly made it a howling success. Of the 140.000 faculty in the physical, engineering, medical and life sciences, Nader's organizers handpicked 16,000 names to solicit a signature, obtaining 1.6% of the total (not even counting scientists in industry and government agencies).

But more important than the small count is the low qualification of the signers. Nuclear safety is primarily an engineering field, but not a single nuclear engineer of any stature could be persuaded to sign this or any other anti-nuclear petition. The only Physics Nobel Prize winner who signed it (he always signs Nader's pap) was Hannes Alfven, who was awarded the prize for his work on the ionosphere, a part of the atmosphere from 80 to 500 miles above the surface of the earth, and equally far removed from nuclear power.

In the rare cases when the supporters of nuclear power speak out, they do not have to go to the nonexperts. The appeal for nuclear power last February was signed by six Physics Nobel laureates, including such pioneers of nuclear power as Hans Bethe and Eugene Wigner.

There is, nevertheless, a frightening aspect to Nader's petition, and that is the broad coverage given to it by the media which consistently censor any expressions of support for nuclear power.

Time, for example, devoted almost an entire page to Nader's latest gimmick, and considering its usual distortions, its report was not particularly inaccurate. What is vicious about Time and the other mass media, including the electronic media, is their censorship of pro-nuclear spokesmen.

When Hans Bethe and 32 other outstanding scientists, including eleven Nobel laureates, issued their appeal, Time was silent. When the nuclear scientists of the Energy Research Group issued their "Call to Reason," Time kept mum. When all of the Nuclear Faculty of Washington University appealed to Congress, Time said nothing; when the scientists and engineers of Iowa State University issued an appeal in April, Time looked the other way. When the Nuclear Engineering Faculty of the University of Virginia published an open letter, Time ignored it. When 700 Swedish scientists in Alfven's native country, "all [of us] active in research and technology relating to nuclear power," petitioned their Prime Minister in favor of nuclear power, Time did not report.

In short, Time does not report the statements on nuclear power by the experts. Its pages are reserved for the scare tactics and superstitions voiced by charlatans like Ralph Nader and Paul Ehrlich.