Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Petty's New Album Doesn't Deliver / Malcolm Fraser Profile Poge 8 / Page 3 GAMECOCK LXXI, No. 4 University of South Carolina Wednesday, July 1,1981 -z W$W ^l;s: ': nv, ?f :'l Ml *5???iliillilE? & mtffflHHltfl "^111 *** t w m^: ^' x ~ WBttSSfM * p-i HBSBbKr^-: .'^BI - Yesterday's V.C. summer Nuclear Plant licensing hearing was_lh?jjlh_s?ssiim-aini^jlifijl hearings began June 22. Citizen intervenor Brett A Bursey, a former USC student, has been leading the opposition I against SCE&G to prevent licensing the almost-completed plant, located 26 miles north of i i Columbia. Both sides are presenting their cases to a three-man Atomic Safety and Licensing Board 1 which will give their recommendations to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission after the! hearings end. Jj The Board, composed of Chairman Herbert Grossman, an attorney. Gustavo A Linpn-i burger, a nuclear physicist, and Frank F. Hooper, an environmental scientist, will hear? discussion from both sides on six major issues. P^xpert testimony has addressed two of the issues, earthquakes and quality control. The! board will listen further to testimony about health effects and emergency planning before 1 hearing the last two issues of anticipated trouble and the cost to decommission the plant after ^ the end of its predicted 30-year life-span. I Both Bursey and SCIS&G have presented several star witnesses including homeowners I living near the site of the V.C. plant, seismology experts and health physics experts. More o ) witnesses will be summoned, including directors of several state agencies, before the hearings are scheduled to end July 2. If more time is needed the hearings will recommence |? July 13. The V.C. summer plant was expected to be completed in 1977 at a cost of $190 million, but y inflation has boosted the completion cost to more than $1 billion. According to SCE&ofc spokesmen the plant is, "98 percent complete" and if licensed will supply power to Richland, || Lexington and Saluda Counties. H By DONALI) WEATHER BEE News iditor ?reu a. liursey, the citizen intervenor who leads the opposition to licensing the Virgil C. Summer Nuclear Plant, had to fend off attacks during yesterday's licensing hearing from opponents who moved to prevent certain witnesses from testifying in future hearings. During yesterday's session, the sixth one since the hearings began June 22, Nuclear Regulatory Commission attorneys proposed ctril/inrt frnm hr* f: l ?i VH.I mui5 11 VIII lilt 1 CVUl U IIIC pi C-lllt'U testimonies of Dr. Michio Kaku and Dr. Helen Caldicott, two of Bursey's witnesses, on the grounds that the testimonies were "repetitions". The Three member Atomic Safety and Licensine Board Dresidins at thp hpprincn: requires pre-filed testimonies from each witness before the hearing. The board ruled to keep on the record the pre-filed testimony of Caldicott, an Australian pediatrician who has studied the genetic impact of radiation exposure, but upheld the motion to strike Kaku's pre-filed testimony from the record, making him ineligible as a witness. Bursey opposed the ASLB's ruling to deny K.aKu, a nuclear physicist at the City College of New York, from presenting his testimony on meltdowns which Bursey said is relevent to state's ability to handle "significant accidents." Bursey told board Chairman Herbert (Yn<;nman thrif "t ont i r*o f#?i ir?rlo t inn r\f -W . viimv t??v v I1U1 V iv/uuuuvn/ll V71 IIIJ case depends on Kaku's summary." Grossman told Bursey the ruling will stand, but if the questions brought up on emergency planning are relevent to Kaku's pre-filed testimony, the board will allow >?-s " ^ The V.c'. Summ wuson, acting as spokesman for the subpoenaed agencies, including the S C. Forestry Commission, the Public Service Commission and the State Law Enforcement Division, said more than 20 agencies have been or will be subpoenaed Wilson, who said he was contacted by about 10 of those agencies, moved to quash the subpoenas because Rnr^ov hr?H received information from those agencies through the S C. Freedom of Information Act, and waited "until the last minute" before summoning those agencies. If agency directors must appear it will be "a severe waste of iudicial mannower " Wilson added. "I am overwhelmed at the state's reluctance to appear," Bursey said. "On a case by case basis, should a director of a certain agency have a conflict, we will entertain someone else from the agency." The board held that although Bursey should have given the agencies more notice, he is entitled to have the witnesses present at the hearings. "Tho ...III i iiv lywm u ? 111 rttLCJJl >U USl 1 llll IDIIS , Grossman said, "but if it becomes apparent that the substitute is not the most knowledgeable, the subpoena will hold " ^ ^Rxf;- ^|'- \>^^b x>: < ' l^& si* 11 I - jttift lant WMSB^Sk Hv mm Bursey to present a summary of Kaku's testimony, which may persuade them to reconsider the ruling John P. Wilson, senior assistant to thf> state attorney general, also moved to prevent Bursey from using several directors of state agencies as witnesses. Bursey had subpoenaed the agencies to give testimony on their roles in implementing emergency procedures in case of a nuclear accident.