THE VICTIMS OF BROWNS FERRY

In a sense, that cash is raked in over the dead and the crippled. No, not the dead at Browns Ferry there weren't any. One a nuclear plant with its defense in depth can withstand a chain of human errors such as piled up at Browns Ferry and not even the first line of defense was breached. (Try and inspect a gasoline refinery with a candle.)

The dead, crippled and diseased are the ones the upright businessmen of Readers Digest are silent about: the ones who died because Browns Ferry was out, and the power had to come from other sources. Two units of 1,065 MW each were knocked out by the fire on March 22, 1975, and were not licensed to operate again at full power until August 23, 1976. At an estimated plant factor of 50%, that makes 12,401,000 MWh of electricity that had to come from somewhere. Most of it probably came from coal, and here, by our count, is the toll of Browns Ferry not being on line:

In the coal mines, 12.4 deaths by black lung, plus 2.3 deaths in accidents, plus 17,256 disability days by injuries (in all cases, the excess over the toll in uranium mines).

For the public, at least 56 (but more likely near 200) premature deaths by lung and heart diseases caused by air pollution; to which must be added the deaths and injuries in transporting 107,000 railcars of coal instead of 18 truckloads of nuclear fuel.

Had Browns Ferry not burned, these people would now be alive and in good health. But the ones who were only crippled or diseased are still here to enjoy the Readers Digest's stories on the horrors of nuclear power. (A third unit went on line with the other two last August, increasing the number of lives saved by 50%.)

But hold on! What about wastes?

Had there been no fire, Browns Ferry units 1 and 2 would have produced 76 canisters (1 by 10 ft) of high-level wastes ready to undergo processing for fireproof, earthquakeproof, waterproof disposal deep in the earth, whence they first came.

What was produced instead, included 1.5 million tons of coal ash, plus another 1.5 million tons of sludge to scrub 85% of the sulfur dioxide, leaving a mere 250,000 tons of it to be spewed into the air and into the lungs of the upright NBC reporters who uttered not a word about the wastes nuclear power improves on; and into the lungs of the erudite people of Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. who sponsored the program.

A competent life insurance company has a financial interest in keeping people alive; so if you are looking for life insurance, think about where not to go.