European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 27, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 4 the stars and stripes saturday april 27, 1991 Washington. Safety recited incidents arc becoming less frequent at . Nuclear Power plants but still total near 2,000 annually including 38 last year that had the potential of threatening Public health a private watchdog group says. There were 85 incidents in 1989 in which there was concern about a potential Public health threat according to the advocacy group Public citizen. Thi Blic citizen said thursday that the nations 111 commercial nuclear reactors reported 1,921 safety related incidents to the nuclear regulatory commission in 1990. Among them were 177 incidents in which plants had to be immediately shut Down 894 cases in which there were violations of Federal safety regulations and 404 safety system failures the group said. Overall said David Trickett co author group says of the report the findings demonstrate there is a an ongoing risk of a chernobyl scale Accident in this  his reference was to the soviet nuclear Accident in 1986. V nuclear Industry spokesmen immediately criticized Public citizens characterization of the statistics. The officials said the statistics reflect much lower numbers than previous years and a steady trend of improved safety and operating practices at the nuclear plants. Arc spokesman Joe Fouchard did not dispute the statistics but said the Agency believes the Power plants a Are safer today than they be Ever been because of increased scrutiny by Industry and Federal regulators. A a there a been steady improvements in the last few years Quot Fouchard said. A automatic shutdowns arc Down safety system interruptions Are Down significant 4 events Are Down collective radiation exposures arc  nuclear Industry officials also emphasized that the number of incidents has been declining yearly. A Public citizen is again trying to Recycle misleading claims about the safety and performance of . Nuclear Energy plants a said the . Council for Energy awareness a communications Clearing House for the nuclear Industry. A in each of these areas the Industry performance has been improving year after year a said Scott Peters a spokesman for the Industry group. He said there were 80 percent fewer emergency shutdowns last year than in 1980 and the number of incidents reported to the arc declined from 2,362 in 1989 to under 2.000 last year. Ken Bossong director of Public citizens critical mass Energy project which assembled the report said some of those declines were because of changes in reporting requirements. And he said restrictions on worker exposure to radiation arid accumulation of radioactive wastes have been loosened. The Public citizen report covers 14 categories from incident reports arid safety system failures to operation costs and amount of hazardous waste generated. \ a a a a a a the group used the criteria to rank the 111 reactors in 1989 and 1990. It found the five worst plants were Brunswick unit 2 in North Carolina Arkansas unit 1 in Arkansas Beach Bottom unit 2 in Pennsylvania Surry unit 1 in Virginia and Oyster Creek. Unit i in new Jersey. The Best were Prairie Island units and ii in Minnesota Seabrook unit i in new Hampshire Byron unit i in Illinois and Braidwood unit ii in Illinois a Quot of the world s largest Telescope atop Hawaii s Mauna Kcal Volcano will get a twin to help probe the universe. Linked telescopes will let scientists see Back in time Pasadena Calif. Apr scientists announced plans Friday to duplicate Earth a largest Telescope and to link the twin devices to create an Observatory Able to peer almost to the beginning of time. The $93.3 million Keck ii Telescope will be built next to the nearly completed $94.2 million Keck i Telescope on the Island of  Kea the California Institute of technology and the University of California announced. Each 10-Mcter-Mirror Telescope alone was designed to be larger and More powerful than any other optical or infrared Telescope on Earth a literally Able to look Back in time by seeing Light that has been travelling toward Earth for 12 billion years. When they Are electronically linked after Keck ii is finished in 1996, the segmented Mirror telescopes should see the universe As it existed 13 billion to 14 billion years ago said physicist Edward c. Stone chairman of a Cal tech us partnership and director of nasal a Jet propulsion Laboratory. For decades the worlds most powerful Telescope has been Cal tech a 5-meter Hale Telescope at pfc mar Mountain Northeast of san Diego. It can look at galaxies 8 billion Light years away. Scientists believe the universe was created 15 billion years ago in an explosion called the big bang the two telescopes also will search for planets around the 100 nearest stars indicating the possible existence of solar systems with smaller planets like Earth perhaps bearing life. The Kecks also will try to find evidence for the yet unseen a dark matter believed to make up 90 percent of the universe. Fridays announcement revealed most of Keck ii will be financed by a Grant of up to $74,6 million from the . Keck foundation established by the late founder of the Superior Oil co. The foundation which wants to interest More american students in science also donated $70 million for Keck i. O Neill urges More spending to fight cancer Washington apr former House speaker Thomas p. A a tips of Neill carried his Battle with cancer to his old stamping ground thursday and urged Congress to increase research spending on the disease. At a hearing marking the 20th anniversary of the National cancer act of Neill said the. Country has been spending too much on defense at t he expense of programs like cancer research for which inflation adjusted spend in has declined 6 percent Over the past two decades. We Yan always find the Money when the emergency comes the Massachusetts Democrat told members of the Senate labor and human resources com Milter adding Quot the emergency is there with regard to  he urged Congress to add $200 million to president Bush a proposed $1.7 billion budget for the National cancer Institute next fiscal year. Even that would merely give the Institute. The spending Power it had in 1980, he said. Maintaining cancer research a is an obligation of the government a he of Neill said. More than 1 million people will be diagnosed with the disease this year and Naif a million will die from it. There Are 7 million cancer survivors because of can said you re looking at one of them a of Neill a Tecil who presided in the House is n n i k in Nola was diagnosed with Colo rectal s c Quot a a Ber 1987l�?~1about nine months after he reared from Congress. He underwent a colostomy he Moths ago after he had difficulty Button Cef under hilln1�?T did actors discovered that he had can our Sam m a u0ne and breast Pate doctors Cut out some. Lumps the size of olives he said and put the Lum  his doctors told him 1 been removed were shrinking. Of a Rasi been that much changed by the can Reno St Esihna h exc up for Theobolt of  asked by Good a was feeling it he responded a i feel Anchorage Alaska up1 a a moderate earthquake knocked out Power Oyer a wide area of the City thursday night but electricity was restored soon and there were no reports of damage or injuries. The . Geological Survey in Golden colo., calculated the tremor at 5.3 on the Richter scale. The Alaska tsunami warning Center measured the quake at 5.1,. A although that magnitude of earthquake is generally not considered sufficient to do much harm the epicentre was so close to Anchorage a just 10 Miles Northwest of the City a that the shaking was Strong enough to Knock out Power units said officials at. Churach electric co. And municipal Light and Power the City a two Power companies. The quake hit at 10 17 . Alaska time thursday and rattled a Large Region out Power in Anchorage t,.nn  it. A but was Felt As a Long and Strong rolling movement throughout alaskans largest City. A municipal Power dispatcher said it was a real unusual for such a relatively harmless quake to cause such a widespread blackout but he noted that the quake was close and very strongly Felt. About 22,400 Homes served by the two Power companies were blacked out. Churach electric spokesman Phil Steyer said the quake knocked off Munici Light and Power lines and that in tur knocked out Power from five of cd Gach s 16 electric distribution substation Steyer said the units have a built in \ bration Detector designed to trip off to line and shut Down Power during a strop earthquake. Power was restored in 10 to 30 Mil utes depending on the area. A .11 a a