REJOICE, YE WIDOWS AND ORPHANS

One of the blatant exceptions is Prof. Kendall, MIT professor of nuclear physics. Adviser to Ralph Nader and sponsor of the Union of Concerned Scientists (an organization long on money and embarrassingly short of nuclear scientists), he scares laymen with fantastic "what ifs" scenarios exclusively limited to nuclear power without ever telling them what could happen, and what has happened, with our older power sources. The UCS gimmicky petitions and statements, widely quoted by the media as those of authoritative scientists, usually include heavy doses of scare propaganda based on the Browns Ferry Fire.

In a recent debate at the US Air Force Academy, this writer had the opportunity to present Kendall with the figures quoted in the preceding item, and to challenge him to tell the assembled student delegates from colleges all over the US which method of generating electricity is safer than nuclear.

This he did not do. He replied in generalities to the effect that the inferior safety of coal is the fault of the coal companies, for coal (apparently referring to the mining stage) "could be made as safe as work in an office.'' As for the casualties caused by the absence of nuclear power by Browns Ferry, he did not dispute the accuracy of the figures, but answered "I didn't put the candle there."

A profound reply. By its interventions, distorted propaganda, gimmicky petitions and scare tactics, the UCS has contributed its share to the delay, and often cancellation, of the construction of nuclear plants, which could have lowered the public death toll, just as Browns Ferry has been saving lives since it came back on line. But Prof. Kendall's hands are clean: He didn't put the candle there.