Now Comes The Fallout

The White House and Congress reappraise nuclear safety

Without warning, a second nuclear era had begun. Gone was the industry's and government's confidence of old; reappraisal and caution would now be the order of the day. The unthinkable had come perilously close to happening, causing second thoughts about the form of energy that promises to relieve dependence on ever diminishing, ever more expensive fossil fuel supplies.

For six riveting days, the nation-and the world-watched a gas bubble build up in a nuclear reactor at Three Mile Island near Harrisburg, Pa., and threaten to cause a hydrogen gas explosion that would spew radiation into the atmosphere. When the bubble finally disappeared and the danger subsided, deep relief was mingled with grave concern about the nuclear future.

Across the U.S. and abroad, protesters poured into the streets in a flashback to the strife-torn 1960s; a new cause had galvanized supporters. Proponents of nuclear energy were on the defensive, and the critics exulted in a chorus of I-told-you-so's. Addressing a crowd of 3,000 on the Boston Common, Massachusetts State Representative Richard Roche shouted, "We're in the mainstream now!" Said Brett Bursey, a leader of the antinuclear Palmetto Alliance in South Carolina, where there are four nuclear plants in operation and six under construction: "In the last few days, people have learned more about nuclear power than at any time since the inception of the industry. It's been this incredibly intensive educational course."

The accident could hardly have occurred at a worse time. The U.S. now imports almost half of the oil it consumes, and the OPEC nations continued last week to sting the industrialized world with price increases, thus adding to the nation's already soaring inflation rate. The U.S. had been counting on nuclear energy to achieve a greater degree of energy independence, but the Three Mile Island accident helped demonstrate that there is no easy path to self-sufficiency. The use of each kind of energy has its own particular problems or risks. Says David Rosenbaum, a consultant to the General Accounting Office and a former professor of theoretical physics at Boston University: "The public has been deluded into thinking that if all the scientists just buckle down, they can figure it all out. That's not true. When you have a modern, complicated technology, you just can't calculate everything."

Washington was alive with investigations and promises of investigations to find out what went so terribly wrong at the Metropolitan Edison Co. plant. In his major energy address Thursday night, Jimmy Carter preceded his call for phased decontrol of oil prices and a windfall tax on petroleum companies (see ECONOMY & BUSINESS) with the announcement that he would appoint an independent commission to look into the accident and make recommendations for improving the safety of all nuclear plants. Said the President: "You deserve a full accounting, and you will get it."

Preliminary findings by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission indicate that inexplicable human errors helped cause the breakdown at the reactor: valves carelessly closed, safety systems turned off. Said Morris Udall, chairman of the House Interior and Insular Affairs Committee: "It completely baffles me as to how this could have happened."

Stealing a jump on the President, Senator Edward Kennedy conducted his own hasty investigation. His Subcommittee on Health and Scientific Research summoned, among others, NRC Chairman Joseph Hendrie. Irritated by Hendrie's unflappable, all-too-cool testimony, Kennedy complained: "I would think you would have a greater sense of anxiety than you apparently do."

Pennsylvania's Senator Richard Schweiker, the subcommittee's ranking Republican, joined the sharp questioning of Hendrie and at one point, disturbed by an account of confused procedures at the site, demanded, "Who's in control of a situation like this?" Concluded Kennedy: "Certainly this kind of process and this kind of procedure in terms of protection of the American people are completely unacceptable and completely inadequate."

Committee witnesses, like Douglas Costle, head of the Environmental Protection Agency, were more reassuring on the question of the danger to human health. NRC data showed that the largest dose of radiation anyone in the immediate area received was 80 millirems; by comparison, an average American absorbs 200 millirems each year. HEW Secretary Joseph Califano testified that he expected no additional cancer deaths among the population within 50 miles of the plant. He also announced that the Food and Drug Administration was testing food, milk and river and drinking water in the vicinity of the site. No hazardous increase in radioactivity had shown up. For years to come, however, HEW will monitor the health of persons in the area. Asked what they would tell a family with small children living near the site, the witnesses were cautiously optimistic. Barring some "unforeseen difficulty," said Dr. Arthur Upton of the National Cancer Institute, "it is perfectly all right to keep the population in place." Can expectant mothers in the area drink milk? Said FDA Commissioner Donald Kennedy: Yes.

Attempting to deal with a crisis that was only dimly understood, the White House, according to a staffer, "went into a state of absolute red alert." Jack Watson, presidential assistant for intergovernmental affairs, served as White House liaison with the NRC and Three Mile Island. If an administrative snag developed, Watson intervened. "There was an imperative need for flexibility and immediate response," says Watson. "As a general rule, this was followed surprisingly well."

The White House gave high marks to Harold Denton, the NRC official who finally pulled things into shape at the reactor, and to Pennsylvania's new Republican Governor, Richard Thornburgh. "We found him to be extraordinarily competent, calm and sensible," said a Carter aide. "We never worried that he would get carried away." Said Thornburgh: "I told the President we are tough people and that we'll handle it."

At the very least, the accident will set back the growth of the nuclear industry. At one extreme, New York Governor Hugh Carey declared that the "nuclear future came to an end right now." He restated his opposition to building two new nuclear plants on Long Island, and the New York State Power Authority scrapped plans for the construction of a huge upstate facility. California Governor Jerry Brown asked the NRC to shut down the Rancho Seco plant near Sacramento until the reasons for the Pennsylvania accident are clearly established.

On the other hand, Illinois Governor Jim Thompson continued to support the construction of nuclear plants, though he announced that he would set up committees of experts to re-examine the state's seven reactors and devise a reaction plan in case of an accident. The Massachusetts house of representatives passed a resolution urging Congress to prohibit licensing of nuclear plants until safe methods of waste disposal were developed, but Governor Edward King declared: "I feel it is crucially important that we not let the current crisis in Pennsylvania be used to prevent the future development of this energy source that is so vital for New England." forces overseas were strengthened by the accident. "We all live in Pennsylvania!" shouted protesters in West Germany, where opposition is mounting to the construction of a $7 billion nuclear waste storage plant near the East German border. In Sweden, former Prime Minister Thorbjorn Falldin attacked Prime Minister Ola Ullsten for deciding to build two more nuclear plants and pledged that he would run for office this fall on an anti-nuclear platform. But Europe depends on imported oil for over 82% of its energy and desperately needs sources of nuclear power.

Despite the uproar, U.S. policy on nuclear energy is not expected to change significantly, although Congress is sure to demand tighter safeguards and a far more active NRC. Quietly but firmly, Carter maintained his commitment to nuclear development.

At the height of the crisis, he visited Three Mile Island with Rosalynn, in part to demonstrate that there was little risk. In private, he raged at what he felt was "irresponsible, outrageous, exaggerated" coverage of the accident by the press, and most especially television.

In a background briefing paper distributed to the press, the President advised the nation to "respond with care and reason to this accident, recognizing that 13% of our nation's electricity comes from nuclear power." A special ABC News/Louis Harris poll taken right after the President's energy speech showed a majority of 52% in favor of building more nuclear power plants, despite the incident in Pennsylvania. The mishap certainly caused a detour on the superhighway to nuclear development, but not a dead end In nuclear power, as in many other matters of sensitive policy, there remains a safe middle road.

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