Milk production or power production — which, Page 1 |
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Milk Production or Power Production - Which? This is addressed to the dairymen, the business interests and all the citizens of Sonoma County. As an introduction to the viewpoints I am about to express, I wish to quote from the AEC rules, entitled "Licensing of Power Reactors by the Atomic Energy Commission" as follows: Factors considered by the commission in judging the safety of proposed sites for power reactors include...the area surrounding the proposed site, and the uses made of this area, such as industrial, farming or residential...etc. Sonoma Marin Economy I would like to ask: What industry operating twenty four hours each day of the year could be more important to the general economy of Sonoma County, than our dairy industry? As one of the opposing witnesses at the California Public Utility hearing, I asked the PG&E engineer, when he was on the stand, "What would happen if an earthquake occurred just as the doors of the fuel chambers were open for replacing the fuel rods?" The answer was that this is not apt to happen. A pretty casual kind of answer, don't you think, considering the grave consequences? PGE Wisdom (?) Does PG&E really understand the deadly and awesome forces that they are importing into our lovely unspoiled countryside? Have they overlooked or given thought to their own losses if they impair our economy? The radioactivity contained in just the first of the four reactors that the PG&E is planning for Bodega Head will be hundreds of times as great as that dropped from the bomb at Hiroshima. Dr. Edward Teller says that an earthquake is "just the sort of thing" to cause a reactor to malfunction and release this radioactivity. The Bodega Reactor will be within a stone's throw of the San Andreas Fault, one of the world's worst earthquake faults. The Atomic Energy Commission itself admits, and I quote: "The reactors cannot explode like a bomb, but, under the worst possible conditions, they could produce so much heat that the fuel elements would melt, thus releasing a very dense and highly radioactive cloud—more dangerous than the cloud produced by an atomic bomb explosion." Earthquake Stir in the fact that Dr. Tocher, the seismologist at University of California has just made the statement that within the next 100 years the San Andreas fault will have at least two earthquakes of a magnitude as great, or perhaps greater than, the earthquake of 1906, and a frightening picture comes clear. Is it any wonder that concern about the Bodega site has been expressed by the Secretary of the Interior, the Lieutenant Governor of California, the President of the California Public Utilities Commission, as well as an ever-widening sector of the public? Taxes And why does our Sonoma County government still welcome PG&E and its atomic reactor with open arms. Because, our Supervisors and Taxpayers' Association say it will reduce the tax rate. Let them try to point out an area in California where industry moved in and the tax rate went down. PG&E sang the same story when they put their monster steam plant in Monterey County. The tax rate went up. So the decisions before us (which the County Supervisors—Leigh Shoemaker dissenting—have never allowed us to discuss because they have denied public hearings) must be based on the following: Deciding Factors (1) The monstrous disaster that would result in the case of the whole or partial destruction of this plant by either earthquake, war, sabotage, or the common factor of a human error by an operator. (A definite substantiation of the risk involved is evidenced by the fact that no insurance company will insure a nuclear plant in total. Even Lloyds of London says NO!) (2) The consumer reaction against the purchase of dairy products and seafoods coming from the vicinity of a nuclear installation. I am told that our dairy industry represents an investment of some seventy million dollars. It is most unfortunate that the voice of this huge investment did not protest and put its "foot down" and avert this whole controversy at the outset. Consumer Alarm An intelligent woman, the mother of four small children, told me the other day, "If this nuclear plant goes in, I will cease using Clover Brand milk." This is just one more manifestation of the growing consciousness of radioactivity, with its dire effect on babies and mounting concern by the mothers of the world. In Newsweek, August 12, 1963, Herman Meuller, geneticist of the University of Indiana, a Nobel Prize winner, states that as many as 300,000 may die early
Object Description
Title | Milk production or power production — which? |
Creator | Kortum, Max |
Type of object | Flyer |
Subject |
Dairy industry Nuclear power plants Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) Bodega Bay (Calif.) Bodega Head (Calif.) |
Region | Sonoma County (California) |
Description | Flyer addressed to dairymen, businessmen, and other citizens of Sonoma County opposing the Bodega Head nuclear power plant proposed by Pacific Gas and Electric Company. |
Place of publication/Origin | Sonoma County, California |
Date created | 1963-08-18 |
Location ID | es001-01-008 |
Source collection | Ernestine Smith Papers |
Digital collection | Environmental History Digital Collection |
Repository | Sonoma State University Library, Rohnert Park, California |
Copyright | Restrictions may apply. For more information see http://library.sonoma.edu/specialcollections/usingcollections/rights/ |
Digital reproduction | Photocopy of original document scanned at 300 dpi-Displayed in jpeg format at 75 dpi |
Date digitized | May 29, 2009 |
Description
Title | Milk production or power production — which, Page 1 |
Digital collection | Environmental History Digital Collection |
Repository | Sonoma State University Library, Rohnert Park, California |
Copyright | Restrictions may apply. For more information see http://library.sonoma.edu/specialcollections/usingcollections/rights/ |
Transcript | Milk Production or Power Production - Which? This is addressed to the dairymen, the business interests and all the citizens of Sonoma County. As an introduction to the viewpoints I am about to express, I wish to quote from the AEC rules, entitled "Licensing of Power Reactors by the Atomic Energy Commission" as follows: Factors considered by the commission in judging the safety of proposed sites for power reactors include...the area surrounding the proposed site, and the uses made of this area, such as industrial, farming or residential...etc. Sonoma Marin Economy I would like to ask: What industry operating twenty four hours each day of the year could be more important to the general economy of Sonoma County, than our dairy industry? As one of the opposing witnesses at the California Public Utility hearing, I asked the PG&E engineer, when he was on the stand, "What would happen if an earthquake occurred just as the doors of the fuel chambers were open for replacing the fuel rods?" The answer was that this is not apt to happen. A pretty casual kind of answer, don't you think, considering the grave consequences? PGE Wisdom (?) Does PG&E really understand the deadly and awesome forces that they are importing into our lovely unspoiled countryside? Have they overlooked or given thought to their own losses if they impair our economy? The radioactivity contained in just the first of the four reactors that the PG&E is planning for Bodega Head will be hundreds of times as great as that dropped from the bomb at Hiroshima. Dr. Edward Teller says that an earthquake is "just the sort of thing" to cause a reactor to malfunction and release this radioactivity. The Bodega Reactor will be within a stone's throw of the San Andreas Fault, one of the world's worst earthquake faults. The Atomic Energy Commission itself admits, and I quote: "The reactors cannot explode like a bomb, but, under the worst possible conditions, they could produce so much heat that the fuel elements would melt, thus releasing a very dense and highly radioactive cloud—more dangerous than the cloud produced by an atomic bomb explosion." Earthquake Stir in the fact that Dr. Tocher, the seismologist at University of California has just made the statement that within the next 100 years the San Andreas fault will have at least two earthquakes of a magnitude as great, or perhaps greater than, the earthquake of 1906, and a frightening picture comes clear. Is it any wonder that concern about the Bodega site has been expressed by the Secretary of the Interior, the Lieutenant Governor of California, the President of the California Public Utilities Commission, as well as an ever-widening sector of the public? Taxes And why does our Sonoma County government still welcome PG&E and its atomic reactor with open arms. Because, our Supervisors and Taxpayers' Association say it will reduce the tax rate. Let them try to point out an area in California where industry moved in and the tax rate went down. PG&E sang the same story when they put their monster steam plant in Monterey County. The tax rate went up. So the decisions before us (which the County Supervisors—Leigh Shoemaker dissenting—have never allowed us to discuss because they have denied public hearings) must be based on the following: Deciding Factors (1) The monstrous disaster that would result in the case of the whole or partial destruction of this plant by either earthquake, war, sabotage, or the common factor of a human error by an operator. (A definite substantiation of the risk involved is evidenced by the fact that no insurance company will insure a nuclear plant in total. Even Lloyds of London says NO!) (2) The consumer reaction against the purchase of dairy products and seafoods coming from the vicinity of a nuclear installation. I am told that our dairy industry represents an investment of some seventy million dollars. It is most unfortunate that the voice of this huge investment did not protest and put its "foot down" and avert this whole controversy at the outset. Consumer Alarm An intelligent woman, the mother of four small children, told me the other day, "If this nuclear plant goes in, I will cease using Clover Brand milk." This is just one more manifestation of the growing consciousness of radioactivity, with its dire effect on babies and mounting concern by the mothers of the world. In Newsweek, August 12, 1963, Herman Meuller, geneticist of the University of Indiana, a Nobel Prize winner, states that as many as 300,000 may die early |