ECHOES AND UPDATES

[Excerpts:] "I am shocked by your persistence to discuss environmental preservation efforts. As one who is concerned about her children's future I consider the preservation of the en-vironment a priceless goal. Yes, there is plenty of debate regarding the global warming theory, but with respect to the ozone layer, a hole is a hole is a hole [her emphasis], right?"

Wrong. The ozone hole is not a hole is not a hole. It is a 30% reduction in ozone concentration that appears for 6 weeks in the Antarctic spring. No connection between it and CFCs (used most-ly in the Northern hemisphere) or any other human activity has ever been established. Like any other newly discovered pheno-menon it deserves to be researched, but unless persuasively demonstrated otherwise, unpoliticized science must presume that this minor fluctuation has been there for millennia, and the burden of proof is on those who contradict the simplest and most natural explanation. P.B.

Several readers have asked whether I am for or against ad-mitting DNA "fingerprinting" in court. My answer is that when it becomes as reliable as genuine fingerprints, I shall be for it. It is my understanding (and I am not a biologist) that every individual has its own unique DNA chain in every cell (or virtually unique, just as fingerprints), but the techniques for establishing the chain unam-biguously are not yet perfect. However, I would warn civil liber-tarians not to oppose new technology mindlessly because it is used to "hunt down" individuals: they forget that it not only catches the guilty, but in equal or greater measure clears the innocent.

Capacity factor (CF) is the actual power delivered divided by its rated power during a certain period, and is indicative of the utilization of the power plant. A CF of 100% means it was working at full capacity throughout the period. In his tirades, Lovins claims to be "generous" by assuming a CF of 60% for nuclear plants. The figures for all of 1991: 15 US nuclear plants had CF's above 90% (including Florida P&L's St. Lucie 2, which achieved a full 100%), and 16 US plants had CFs between 80% and 90%.

The OECD report on the "State of the Environment" covers the years 1970 through 1989 and lists 178 accidents with 25 deaths, 125 injured, or 10,000 evacuated. More than one quarter of them were due to natural gas explosions and resulting fires. For ex-ample, 100 died in Xilatopec, Mexico, when a truckload of gas ex-ploded in 1978; 317 died in Egypt when a bargeload of gas on the Nile blew up in 1983; 500 died in St. Jilhautepec, Mexico, in a storage tank explosion in 1984; and 575 Russians died in a gas pipeline explosion in Acha Ulfa in 1989. (Quoted in a recent issue of the British Nuclear Forum; sorry, I do not have its exact date. I am most grateful for clippings, but please give source and date! Thank you.)

No Nukes!