Seeking super safety [nuclear power plants]

The year 1975 can almost be considered the go/no-go year for nuclear power in the U.S. Three key decisions are scheduled for Congress - namely, whether to begin the use of plutonium as a supplemental fuel to the uranium now being used in U.S. reactors, whether to continue to support the development of breeder reactors, and whether to maintain the Government's supplemental insurance coverage, in the form of the Price-Anderson Act, of the nuclear power industry. In addition to these Congressional concerns, the nuclear debate in the U.S. has recently intensified on issues even broader than nuclear safety - into areas like the economic viability of nuclear power. And in January of this year, 32 scientists, headed by Dr. Hans Bethe of Cornell University, signed a letter addressed to the public, saying that there is no reasonable alternative to an increased use of nuclear power to satisfy future U.S. energy needs. A counter letter, promptly mailed to President Ford and signed by eight scientists from Ralph Nader's group, expressed that group's anxiety about any massive speedup in nuclear power plant construction - a development that would exacerbate, these scientists believe, the tendency to overlook necessary safety precautions.