Nwle&ir plant to lb
By RACHEL STIFFLER
Staff Writer
Despite some opposition from the
; public, the Shearon Harris nuclear
power plant will begin operation in
; early 1987, a corporate communica
; tions spokesman for the plant said.
Jay Mullins, speaking for Carol
; ina Power & Light, the company
; building the reactor, said the plant's
; fuel was not loaded in July as
; originally planned because pre
; operational testing of the plant has
; not yet been completed.
; "There are literally thousands of
; checks that must be made before a
; plant begins operation," Mullins
; said, adding that there have been no
; problems with the testing so far.
; In Chapel Hill, 25 miles northwest
: of the town of New Hill where the
; Shearon Harris reactor is being built,
! the Coaliion for Alternatives to
: Shearon Harris has been distributing
Concern over acid rain levels
grows among N.C. scientists
. By PAUL CORY
( Staff Writer
; Acid rain is falling in western
'. North Carolina, but a scientist from
! N.C. State University studying the
. problem said it's too early to tell if
: plant and stream life is in danger.
Ann Bartuska, assistant professor
: of forestry and program mangager
: for the Southern Commercial Forest
'. Research Cooperative, said the pH
: of the rainwater in the area has fallen
: as low as 3.6 (a pH of 7 is average).
"Data has just begun to come in,"
Bartuska said, adding that the soil
in western part of the state is already
: acidic, so the acid rain may not have
any major short-term effects. Also,
since most of the water in the
; mountains is in the form of streams
; that contain small numbers of fish,
: any impact on North Carolina's fish
: population will take a while to
; become noticeable, she said.
; Jim Shepard, public information
; officer at the N.C. Environmental
; Management Division agreed, say
I ing, "We have had some acid rain,
,' but there has been no major
: damage."
: The scientists from N.C. State
. University are also studying whether
; or not the combination of acid rain
and the high concentration of ozone
in the mountains is causing severely
stunted growth in trees.
Acid rain is caused by sulfur
oxides, which come from power and
Mains ,eae drought,
tout shortage persists
By SCOTT GRIEG
Staff Writer
'.The water level of University Lake,
the main water supply for Chapel
-Hill, rose just over eight inches in
Tthree hours Wednesday, but Orange
"Water and Sewer Authority officials
.said they were not yet considering
lifting the mandatory water conser
vation measures.
T Patrick Davis, assistant to the
executive director of OWASA, said
.University Lake was 29 34 inches
below normal capacity at 2:15 p.m.,
Tup from 3712 inches below normal
at 11 a.m.
, Davis said in a telephone interview
Ithat the Chapel Hill area had
received 2.3 inches of rain since 8
a.m.
"We can in no way say that the
; worst is over, though," Davis said.
"We're coming up on the three
months that are traditionally always
the driest of the year September,
October and November and the
National Weather Service just
released its outlook which predicts
the rainfall for that time period to
continue to be below normal."
The water conservation measures
are still mandatory and put restric
tions on watering lawns, washing
cars, serving water at restaurants and
other dispensable water uses.
Those measures are "stage two"
measures, based on a severity scale
from one to five. Chapel Hill has
never had to implement measures
beyond stage 3, which go into effect
when University Lake has dropped
54 inches or more below normal.
"To my knowledge, we haven't
had any complaints from commer
cial customers about the restric
tions," Davis said. "People have been
very good about following the
guidelines we set up and water use
has dropped substantially."
"Since the mandatory restrictions
were imposed, water demand has
dropped to 5.5 million gallons a day,
which represents a 20 percent drop
in use," Davis said.
According to Davis, the accumul
mated rainfall from January to July
in Orange County was 12 inches
below normal and that was what
caused the reserviors to drop so
rapidly.
"The lake (University Lake) was
dropping at a rate of about an inch
a day, and the rain we were getting
was not enough to cause substantial
run-off," he said. "The rains weren't
hard enough or long enough, and
consequently, the water just ended
up being soaked up in the top layer
of soil before it ever got a chance
to run off."
At the worst part of the drought,
posters for area businesses to display
in their windows which read, "This
Business Does Not Support Shearon
Harris."
CASH member Lightning Brown
said the group's main concern is the
safety of the reactor. He said acci
dents have occurred in other nuclear
plants in the country as a result of
problems similar to the ones that
have occurred at Shearon Harris. He
cited faulty seals in the coolant
system as an example.
CASH'S information on condi
tions inside the plant have come from
the workers themselves, Brown said,
adding that the problems have been
reported to the attorney general and
district attorney.
"1 think it's trustworthy evidence,"
he said. "We have every right to
question a big corporation that says
nothing is wrong with their plant."
manufacturing plants, and nitrous
oxides, which come mainly from
cars, trucks, and motorcycles, being
. emitted into the air. The oxides then
react with the water in rainclouds
to form nitrous and sulphurous
acids, which then fall to the ground
in rain.
In other areas of the country,
particularly the Northeastern states,
acid rain has killed off entire lakes
and large areas of forest. If nothing
is done, the same thing could happen
in North Carolina. Bartuska is
hopeful, however, that the trend can
be reversed.
The Environmental Protection
Agency has placed lower limits on
the amount of sulfur oxides in plant
emissions, and Congress is consid
ering several bills to lower the limits
even further. The actions of the EPA,
plus a concentrated cleanup effort,
have managed to restore some
devastated New York lakes to life.
The bills before Congress are
mainly concerned with sulfur oxide
emissions. But Bartuska warned that
acid rain will continue to be a
problem until nitrous oxide emis
sions are reduced as well. She said
this would be the hardest part,
because it would entail higher
automobile costs and people would
have to drive their cars less.
"We have to decide whether we
want an environment that's livable,
or lower bills," Bartuska said.
the quarry and the reservior were
dropping six to eight inches a day,
he said.
Davis said the water shortage
problem in Chapel Hill-Carrboro
appeared to be an annual one but
that OWASA tried to meet the neds
of its customers.
The temporary dam on Cane
Creek and the purchase of the Stone
Quarry in Hillsborough are exam
ples of this effort, he said.
Davis said he hopes returning
students at UNC would do their best
to help conserve water.
"The University is responsible for
30 percent of all the water used in
the community and that amounts to
almost 1.6 million gallons a day," he
said. "In 1986, UNC used 583 million
gallons of water."
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safe, operatiomal
Brown said CP&L has been
plagued with management problems
in other nuclear plants it operates
and that in 1983 the company was
given the largest fine ever levied
against any plant operator by the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission for
infractions found at its plant in
Brunswick County. He also cited the
recent controversy in which plant
workers were suspected of drug use
on the Shearon Harris site.
Another issue of concern is that
of the cost efficiency of the reactor,
Brown said.
Brown said one alternative to the
Shearon Harris plant would be for
North Carolina to contract its
electricity to be sent from other states
where electricity is produced less
expensively.
"Right now we are paying six to
seven cents per kilowatt hour for
electricity," he said. "The cost
Students measure support
for Broyhill on campuses
By SHARON KEBSCHULL
Staff Writer
UNC's chapter of Students for
Broyhill began a mock election
Monday to rate Sen. James
Broyhill's popularity on campus.
The poll will continue through
registration, with the results out
in about two weeks, said Gene
Davis, who was taking results
outside Hanes Hall.
The poll, which read, "If the
election for U.S. Senate was held
today, for whom would you
vote?" is funded by Students for
Broyhill, which is funded by
Broyhill for Senate.
Broyhill, a 23-year Republican
congressman from Lenoir, was
recently appointed to Senate to
fill the post of John East, who
committed suicide last month. He
and former Gov. Terry Sanford,
a Democrat, are vying for the
seat.
The mock election will be held
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estimate that CP&L has given the
N.C. Utilities Commission is 15 cents
per kilowatt hour. There's no reason
why a company should be allowed
to mismanage a plant so badly that
they can charge twice as much (as
we're paying now)."
Mullins said the figure that CP&L
gave the Utilities Commission, which
determines the rate customers will
pay, is the amount it will cost the
company to generate the electricity
through Shearon Harris, nbt the
amount that the customers will
actually be charged, which he esti
mated to be close to nine cents per
kilowatt hour. Although the plant
would be operating at a loss, the
company will be earning revenue
from the plants that have already
been built and have recovered their
cost of construction.
Mullins said the cost and the
length of construction of Shearon
statewide, with polls taken at 30
participating North Carolina
campuses. The statewide results
will then be compiled to see "how
candidates are doing across the
state with students," said Andrew
T. Ragan, the SFB state executive
director.
No campaign contacts will be
made from addresses given on the
poll, unless students starred the
ballot. Those students will be
helped by SFB to register to vote
and receive absentee ballots,
Ragan said.
SFB was pleased with the
turnout by Tuesday afternoon.
"We did this also for the 1984
governor's races, and this is the
biggest turnout yet," said Jim
Wooten, chairman of the Chapel
Hill chapter.
No other activities have been
planned yet by SFB, but they are
working on getting Broyhill to
speak on campus, Wooten said.
Tha Geld Connection says
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We have the lowest prices
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128 E Franklin St
Downtown Chapel Hill
(behind Johnny T-Shirt)
Jack Tomkovick, Owner
mCAROUNA
DINING
The Marriott Corporation is honored
to have been selected to provide your
Dining Service at the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Our programs have been designed to
provide quality food service to the
campus community through responsive
management, sensitive to the needs
of you - the customer.
Our policy is open door. We welcome
your constructive comments, opinions,
and suggestions at any time.
The Daily Tar
CP&L
Harris was no. greater than those of
other nuclear reactors built at the
same time. Construction on the plant
began in 1978, he said.
He said the Atomic Safety and
Licensing Board dismissed the drug
use allegations against the workers
after a thorough investigation.
The fine levied against the Bruns
wick plant was the largest ever
received at the time it was given,
Mullins said, but since that time
larger fines have been given to other
companies.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commis
sion regulates the industry "very
tightly," he said. "There are very few
utility companies that have not
received a fine for some infraction.
The problems at the Brunswick plant
were mostly procedural.
"We've never been fined for
anything that was a threat to public
UNC system
hike rejected
By MICHAEL KOLB
Staff Writer
An in-state tuition hike proposed
by Gov. James G. Martin last month
over the objections of many
members of the UNC Board of
Governors was rejected by the N.C.
General Assembly last month.
Martin had proposed a 3.2 percent
increase, equal to the also rejected
cost-of-living increase he had pro
posed for state employees. The
increase would have raised in-state
tuition by between $10 and $16.
Martinhad supported his call for
the increase by pointing out that 10
years ago, the average student paid
for 13 percent of his costs. Now, the
average student pays for only 8
percent.
The BOG, which had objected to
earlier increases, also opposed this
attempt. Martin had requested a 10
percent out-of-state tuition hike. The
General Assembly approved an
increase that adds an average of 12.5
percent to the tuition bill of the non
North Carolinian.
You are invited to
Cornerstone Bible Church
4023 Pope Road, Durham
Dr. Phil Rose, Pastor
Sunday School
Worship Service
Evening Service
Gail 942
for more information
EM
Heel Thursday, August 21, 19863A
oraoaii says
health and safety. At the time the
Brunswick plant was fined, it had
been in operation since 1975; it was
not under construction."
Mullins criticized CASH lor
overlooking the track record of the
Brunswick unit since 1983.
"The NRC gives us a report every
1 8 months," he said. "The last report,
which covered all of 1985 and part
of 1986, gave us very high marks.
We are very confident that Shearon
Harris will operate safely.
"These plants represent the best
technology available. We are legally
required to build the plants necessary
to generate electricity for an area.
We don't build plants just to make
money. Our choice is to buiid
Shearon Harris or a coal plant, and
we think the nuclear plant is far
better, safer, and will have less
impact on the environment than a
coal plant."
in - state tuition
by legislature
There has not been an in-state
tuition hike approved by the General
Assembly in three years. The state
constitution says that tuition must
be kept as low as possible in the
state's university system.
KARATE
CLASSES
Mon-Wed
6-8 pm
Woolen
Introductory
Meeting:
Wed, Aug 27
Studio B Woollen Gym
6:00 pm
Jack Davis 942-4382 or 942-9346
UNC Okinawan Shorin
- Ryu Karate Club
9:45 a.m.
11:00 a.m.
6:00 p.m.
- 7735
or transportation
.VICE
A