European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - June 25, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes wednesday june 25,1986 columns James Reston Mexico deserves More than passing thoughts every once in a while the Reagan administration thinks seriously about Mexico for example when ifs not thinking about Nicaragua. It pays attention if theft s an earthquake in Mexico or a drug crisis or a financial crisis that might Hurt us Bankers utmost of the Trine it prefers to dream of faraway places including outer space. However Secretary of the Treasury James Baker has been concentrating recently on Mexico because president Miguel de la Madrid has threatened to de fault on his $100 billion debt. And his Isa direct Challenge o the so called Baker plan of settling International economic policy on debt Exchange rates and Trade by negotiation rather than confrontation. The chances that the International monetary fund will come through with a  billion loan that will make possible another 16 billion in credit. That will Deal with the immediate crisis but As usual i twin be a Short Range response. I what Mexico needs is not merely an other loan but a continuing partnership with the United states to help the growth of its potentially Rich Economy. This would require a wholly new bipartisan approach in Washington 10 what is ogled the mexican time bomb. Jafor Only by a dramatic expansion fit Economy can Mexico Deal with he menace of unemployment and underemployment now running at More than i percent and with the Light oils people and capital into the United Stales. Even the alarming drug traffic across the Rio Grande is at least partly the result of Mexico s desperate poverty. This has been recognized in Washington Ever since world War ii Franklin Roose velt had his Good neighbor policy an Kennedy a Alliance for Progress presi Dent Johnson even talked about a norther Horican common Market and president Reagan flirted momentarily with Bat  when he came into the while House. Increasingly the problem has outrun the slogans and the Short term policies. In the put the United slates Hai Deal mainly with the effects and not with the causes of the mexican chaos and admittedly there Are some causes it cannot William Buckley control. It cannot dictate tic Price of Oil which accounts for three fifths of mexi co s foreign Exchange. It cannot control the alarming human Fertility of Mexico whose population was around 20 million at the end of the world War ii and is expected to be More than us million by the end of the Century. It cannot even control the irresponsibility of sen. Jesse Helms . Like the ghouls of the Middle Ages who stripped the wounded on the Battlefield he called a meeting the other Day in the mid dle of the present crisis to announce that the mexican election of 1982 had been a fraud and to suggest that maybe president de la Madrid should be impeached. Fortunately Helms bad neighbor pol icy has few supporters in Washington. There Are some Here who would rather concentrate on the political corruption and one party government in Mexico Han remember that atone in latin America Mexico s one party govern ment has at least kept the peace and avoided a military dictatorship for More than half a Century. The United states and the International monetary organizations arc justified in calling for economic reforms in Mexico be fore shovelling More and More billion into the mess. However there s a limit to the sacrifices the mexicans can make under present circumstances without inviting Vio Lence in the streets and provoking the ancient mexican hostility against the gringos and Bankers to the North. Washington thinks of these deeper eco nomic and philosophic questions Only fit fully. They have not been Given the priority they deserve. Ragan for example started his stewardship with a visit to Mexico Buthe has talked More about the menace of Nicaragua in the last month than he has talked about the fire in the mexican ashes in the last five  the United states has one truly special relationship with another country that country is Mexico William d. Rogers former assistant Secretary of state for latin american affairs wrote the other Day in the Washington  nation can choose its friends bul not its neighbors we and Mexico Are fated to live together. We had Best learn to exist Side by Side with civility and understanding what injures Mexico does damage to our own National inter ests As Well. 10 we Yak to Law questioning chernobyl s effect on . Policy q. In connection with the soviet Fias co tragedy Al chernobyl we hear a lot about  what is a con Uin men and Why such an awkward word a to the second question there is no drawer. It t like complaining about the word discussant to designate an Aca Demic participant who analyses a paper. But the word has a technical meaning containment it a reinforced Concrete Structure whole purpose is to contain Allbut trivial radiation leaks in the event of an Accident in nuclear Power plants. Q. In t it True that there an american nuclear plants that like chernobyl Are without containment a. No. At least not in the Lannu sense in which you raise the question. Containment Are needed for Protection against nuclear Plant of the kind that can generate heat of a particular i.e.,dangerous level. Those american plants that do not have containment Are no engaged in generating that kind of heal. A sounds sophistical to me a. Listen if you want to Lake toe Posi Tion that because the soviet Union had a nuclear Power Accident the United Sta Les should discontinue nuclear Energy go ahead and Uke that position bul please Stop asking me question because i know what i m talking about and you probably Don to so if you Aren t in the mood to learn just go away. Q. What Are your credentials ? a. I read report from non ideologue sources. For instance Here is something that appeared in a Book the War against the atom in 1982, by Samuel Mccraeken of Boston University. Rewrote the absence of an anti nuclear movement in the soviet Union was attributed to the Superior safety of the peo ple s reactors., what was not generally reported was that most soviet reactors have no containment. Had a three mile Island Type Accident happened at one of these a contained reactors there would Kocat certainly Nave been very serious releases of  q. Are you saying thai the Lack of con Laii Unen in chernobyl poses special problems thai we in the United states Don l need to worry about a. In a Way yes. Where we a not have containment we Are not in the business of producing the High heat nuclear Energy made dangerous by the Lack of containment. Brace yourself and lemme use scientific Lingo. Chernobyl and her Sisters Are us or. Mccraeken Points out worse than a contained reactors they Ore a contained water cooled Graphite moderated reactors a design used for Power generation nowhere Butin the soviet  ?a. So what happens in such unprotected nuclear mechanisms u that the tend to develop Bot spots the scientists Call them Wigner Energy within their Ore. When that happens you need to Cool them and this requires very delicate manipulations. Mccraeken reminds us that Graphite Burns at temperatures sufficient to dissociate tie oxygen and Hydro Gen in water and this produces an explosive mixture of great Power. As he put it this Means that water can be a unsatisfactory at gasoline for putting out a Graphite Fere. The explosion that appears to have devastated chernobyl in May have been the result of trying to extinguish a Graphite fire with water. Q. But it was still an Accident an accidents can happen Here As Well