Penn State University - La Vie Yearbook (University Park, PA)

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reviewl nanna -f: 4. . ..syi . N'V . . Three Mile Island nuclear plant TMI Site of Nuclear Accident Last spring, in what was labeled the worst accident in the history of United States nuclear power production, the nuclear power plant at Three Mile ls- land, near Harrisburg, malfunctioned and began releasing radioactive steam and gas into the atmosphere. Later investigations by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission showed that simple human error on the part of plant workers was partly responsible for the series of events that caused thousands of residents to flee the Har- risburg area. Gov. Richard Thornburg ordered evacuation of pregnant women and preschool children within a five mile radius of the plant. , Workers tried for days to discover the source of the malfunction and to lower dangerously high temperatures in the reactor core. Radioactive steam and gas continued to leak periodically from the damaged plant, and a 280- 28 RevievWNat ional cu.-ft. hydrogen bubble developing in the core kept pressure and tempera- tures at frightening levels. Nuclear en- gineers at the plant discussed the re- mote possibility of the bubble inter- fering with water circulation, heating the core up to the point of meltdown. The core would have melted its way down through steel reactor walls, the floor of the containment structure, and into the ground where it would con- taminate the soil or meet with water to form radioactive geysers. The bubble eventually subsided, and a few weeks later the plant was safely shut down. TIME magazine summa- rized, The price of progress, like the price of anything, has a ceiling, and for the nuclear power industry, the radio- active gases drifting from Three Mile Island have undeniably raised the price-and public consciousness -about the risks of nuclear power. AP photo courtesv Centre Daily Times 1979 Ends Decade It was more than just the end of a decade. For Americans, 1979 marked the beginning of new trends in enter- tainment, music and lifestyle. At the movies, the early part of the year was dominated by horrorHantasy films. Newsweek called it Holly- wood's Scary Summer in their cover story on the horror boom. Films like Dawn of the Dead, Nightwing, Proph- ecy, Halloween, Alien, The Amityville Horror, and The Black Hole, all shocked their audiences with the sus- pense of the unknown and with costly and gruesome special effects. But the true horror in the movies was the portrayals of the Vietnam War. It began with Michael Cimino's The Deer Hunter, about the wars effects on the minds and lives of men from a Pennsylvania steel-town. Then ap- peared Coming Home and Francis Cuppola's Apocalypse Now. Even The China Syndrome could be called a horror movie for it's true-to- life version of a nuclear mishap. Of course they weren't all horror movies-there were some comedi- es-John Belushi's 1941, Monty Pyth- onls Life of Brian, 10, and The lerk. And there were more serious films such as ... And lustice for All with Al Pacino in the starring role; The Seduc- tion of Joe Tynan with Alan Alda; The Rose with Bette Midler; Kramer vs. Kramer with Dustin Hoffman and Me- ryl Streep; The Electric Horseman with Jane Fonda and Robert Redford; and Star Trek with William Shatner, Leon- ard Nimoy and the Enterprise crew. It was death-to-disco as music took on a new trend with new-wave bands like The Cars, Cheap Trick, The Knack, Dire Straits, and Talking Heads. But these new rock 'n' rollers didn't replace such elders as Fleetwood Mac, The Eagles, Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan, and Neil Young. At year's end, every one of these old timers was in the Top Ten. Styles for women began with slit skirts and ended with the western look and designer jeans. America also got moving with a craze in roller-skating. With everyone in their chic new skates, we're ready to roll right into the '80's.

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Appropriate Compensation Governor Richard Thornburgh wasted no time in signing a pay bill that will install raises for lawmakers, judges, and two state-elected officials. The base salary for lawmakers will rise from its current $18,720 a year to $25,000 a year. The 33.5 percent boost will become effective Dec. 1, 1980. The state's 330 judges will get pay increases of up to $10,000 and the Su- preme Court chief justice, who has the top judicial salary, will receive a pay hike to $67,000 beginning Dec. 1,1980. Salaries for the auditor general and state treasurer will rise from $42,500 to $48,000 in January of 1981. Governor Thornburgh was pleased that compensation for legislators was secured and felt that our legislators will turn a fuller measure of their at- tention to the many important issues and problems affecting all of us. Thornburgh said he was concerned that the increases exceeded those rec- ommended by the Compensation Commission in February. It was sug- gested that lawmakers should receive 15 percent increases over two years. Since there had been no increase since 1976, the governor said he felt he could sign the bill anyway. State Sen. J. Doyle Corman, who voted in favor of the bill, was opposed to the pay hike last spring. Corman Claimed that under the spring proposal, immediate pay raises would have been unconstitutional. The new approved pay hike would be effective after 1981, he said, when most of the legislators now in office are gone. People need to be appropriately compensated, or they are just not go- ing to run for the office, Corman said. An opponent to the pay hike, Rep. Gregg Cunningham, R-Centre, said that his 1no' vote speaks for itself. He said he suspected it has been five years between raises, which averages out to about a 6 percent raise per year. A proposed increase for cabinet members was dropped at the last min- ute. Governor Richard Thornburgh Emergency Plan Drafted In reaction to the alarming incidents occurring at the Three Mile Island nu- clear power plant, Governor Dick Thornburgh issued an advisory that pregnant women and children stay outside a five-mile radius of the plant. In addition, local officials in the area of the plant prepared plans for a pos- sible evacuation and made arrange- ments to relocate the elderly, invalids, and persons in institutions such as hospitals and jails. The governor also disclosed that schools within five miles of the plant should be closed and state government offices would be open, but with leaves granted for some absentees. It was estimated that approximately 50,000 of the 950,000-plus residents of the area surrounding the plant had left their homes several days after the acci- dent. About one month after the happen- ings at TMI, Gov. Thornburgh stated that he had doubts on whether the country should continue to rely on nuclear power as a significant source of energy. He also said that not order- ing an evacuation was the toughest decision of all. Photo tourlest m The Daily Collegian Odd or Even? The summer of '79 brought along with its sun and fun, a critical decision by Governor Thornburgh to do some- thing about the pressing gas shortage. With OPEC's decision to charge more money for oil, American's were forced to account for the price differ- ence. In June, Governor Thornburgh an- nounced that Americans would have to purchase gasoline on an odd-even basis. This meant that car owners whose licenses ended with an odd di- git could only buy gas on odd calendar days, and the same applied with even numbers and days. Pennsylvanian's were also subjected to a $5 gas minimum, as well as the skyrocketing gasoline prices which rose to well over a dollar per gallon. To make matters even worse, lines for the much-in-demand gasoline were so long, many people had to plan their entire day's schedule around the pre- viously simple procedure of having their gas tanks filled. PSU Offers Shelter Had a state of emergency been de- clared after the accident at Three Mile Island, State College would have been able to house some 1,400 evacuees. State College Mayor Arnold Addison and municipal officials discussed ways to accommodate evacuees, and said plans were made to utilize churches and schools. If necessary, Addison said he would ask State College residents to open their doors to the evacuees. Al- though food and transportation could have been a problem the mayor con- tended that the University could house about 5,000 evacuees in White Build- ing, Rec Hall, and the Intramural Build- ing. Dr. John A. Hargleroad, Director of University Health Services, said Health Services would survey evacuees for radiation had an evacuation taken place. ReviewlState 8: Local 27

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Gas Prices Soar The last summer of the '70's will not be a pleasant remembrance for those who suffered the pains of the worst gasoline crisis in U.S. history. In the critical months of June and July, truck- ers rebelled at the high cost of diesel fuel, and many Americans spent their lunch breaks in the gas lines. There were several causes which led the price of gas to skyrocket past the $1 mark. One of the causes, price fixing by the Organization of Petro- leum Exporting Countries tOPECi, was compounded by the intricacies of gov- ernment regulation all the way from the wellhead to the pump. In Pennsylvania, Governor Thorn- burg layed out an odd-even gas ration- ing plan that led to the reduction of long gas lines. And in several regions of the South and West, produce began to rot since truckers refused to trans- port it. Despite President Carter's signing of the SALT treaty with the Soviet Union, his approval rating plunged to 29 per cent in the mess of the gas crisis. Experts predicted the crisis would worsen the inflation rate, cut economic growth, and add 800,000 people to the jobless category by the end of the year. ' The crisis also became the impetus for alternatives to petroleum energy and provisions for the utilization of synthetic fuels. Skylab Falls The American orbiting space station and laboratory, Skylab, returned to earth in July, 1979, after a six-year orbit. The Skylab vehicle, nine stories tall and weighing 77.5 tons, was expected to slip into the earth's upper atmosphere, then disintegrate into a celestial show- er of flaming metal somewhere at sea. Ten fragments, each weighing 1,000 lbs or more, would crash to earth at speeds of up to 270 mph. The falling of Skylab was anticipated worldwide due to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's inability to predict its point of impact on earth. The North American Air Defense Command iNO- RADl tracked the re-entry of Skylab into the earth's atmosphere, using in- fra-red devices as well as radar. The remains of Skylab finally fell into the Indian Ocean and some uninhabited portions of Australia, finally eliminat- ing the concern over the possibility of endangering lives as NASA had feared. More than fifty scientific, technical, and medical experiments were con- ducted, and 183,000 unprecedented pictures of the sun's surface were snapped through Skylab's telescope. Ironically, despite NASA's concentra- tion on solar research with Skylab, the agency's failure to anticipate the extent of the sunspot activity during the ve- hicle's years in orbit contributed sub- stantially to the craft's death. Gas Crunch slogan AP photo courtesy Centre DAIly Times Briefs PA Boasts Series Win The year 1979 was a grand one for the state of Pennsylvania. The Pittsburgh Pirates were crowned world champions as they won the World Series, 4 games to 3. They rallied from a 3 to 1 deficit to win the seventh and decisive game 4-1. The comeback was led by Series and League MVP, Willie Stargell. Philadelphia also could boast as the NHL Flyers had a 35-game unbeaten streak-a new record. Chrysler Gets Loan Congress agreed to extend a $1 :5 bil- lion loan to the ailing Chrysler Corpo- ration, provided it can find $400 mil- lion in new loans. The loan is designed to save from bankruptcy our nation's third largest automaker, whose ex- pected 1979 deficit is $1 billion. The loan will extend the life of America's tenth largest manufacturer, and will preserve the jobs of its 137,000 em- ployees, as well. Crash Grounds DC-105 Last spring, 138 DC-1O airplanes were grounded for 37 days following the worst plane crash in U.S. aviation his- tory. On Memorial Day weekend, all 273 passengers on an American Airlines DC-10 were killed when the plane crashed at Chicago's O'Hare Inter- national Airport. FAA inspections later found cracks and broken fasteners at- taching engines on nearly 40 DC-105. Who Concert Marred Thousands of fans of the rock group The Who crashed the gate at Cincin- nati's Riverfront Coliseum, leading to the deaths of eleven people age fifteen to twenty-two. The stampede began when holders of general admission tickets were de- termined to obtain the best possible seats. In the outcome, Ohio legislators demanded a ban on the first-come, first-served seating procedure. Review7National 29