What are your thoughts on nuclear power?
Many American University students believe that while nuclear power has a lot of potential, it needs to be explored further and controlled properly to prevent accidents. To get a sense of the AU community’s feelings toward nuclear power, I asked six students for their thoughts on the subject. The students were sitting in the Market Place or the Tavern, two food vendors located in AU’s Mary Graydon building. When asked for their opinions on nuclear power, some students said they felt that nuclear energy is a cleaner and cheaper way to get more energy to more people.
I also asked the students what direction they would like to see nuclear energy go in the future, what other types of energy they think should be explored and what the Obama administration should do about nuclear energy. Nuclear power should be government run, one student said. Another student said he was disappointed that recent administrations had not done more to support nuclear power. However, all students interview agreed that there are certain health and environmental hazards when dealing with nuclear power.
Lila Miller, a sophomore in AU’s School of International Service
“I think it’s a good resource, it could be used appropriately. I think that there’s a lot of risk involved and that if it’s properly managed, that it would be a good resource. But there’ so much risk and the nuclear waste would need to be better controlled before we can use it as a valuable resource.”
How can we better control nuclear power?
“I think there should be a lot more oversight and the government should be much more involved in the maintenance and checking and that people should be held accountable. I don’t think it should be privatized, I think that it should be run by the government because I think that they would be responsible for making everything work properly.”
Catherine Manheart, a sophomore in AU’s College of Arts and Sciences
“I also think that nuclear power could, it has the potential to be an interesting source of alternative energy, but that it does have the potential to become really dangerous really fast. I’m from Washington state and we have a huge problem with Hanford and their dumping waste into the river. Which was from a weapons plant, but, I mean, still, it’s just, there are a lot of risks involved especially with how to get rid of the nuclear waste.”
Hannah Oaks, a sophomore in AU’s School of International Service
“I think nuclear power is a good way to move in the future for energy. I think it’s a lot cleaner. There are a lot of drawbacks and there is danger to it but I think that if we develop techniques, in the end, it will work out.”
What type of techniques should be developed?
“I’m not really well-versed on nuclear power, so I just think that those scientists out there should continue to develop and try to make it safe, as safe as possible.”
Adam Marshall, a junior in AU’s School of Communication
“I don’t think I know enough about it, in depth, to give a full analysis of nuclear power. I think that the idea is good, but how to manage the waste is a major concern. And that’s, you know, what I would feel the most, is how we handle the waste and things like that. So that part bothers me about it, but the efficiency of it seems like a positive.”
What other types of energy would you like to see explored further?
“I would prefer renewable. I think wind is amazing. I think that solar power is awesome. You know, you set up the infrastructure and then you just take the energy. There’s no waste, basically, after you establish that. You don’t have to worry about what material or junk going into the atmosphere, so renewable energy is that way to go, according to me.”
James Randall, a sophomore in AU’s College of Arts and Sciences and School of International Service
“I think that nuclear power, if we can find a way to store the material in a safe way, is an under looked, under researched, underfunded and potentially economically and diplomatically and economically viable option, we just haven’t looked into it enough. I’m actually really disappointed in the last three administrations in their approach to nuclear power, particularly the Environmental Protection Agency. A lot of reports that have come out from them have said things like ‘it’s completely workable and has fewer negative impacts on the environment than anything else,’ and at the same time, doesn’t. They don’t go into it and they don’t provide any policy recommendations, and I find that faulty.”
Suggestions for the Obama administration?
“I would recommend a pilot project. I would recommend figuring out the most expensive place in the country to transport fossil fuels to, and build a single nuclear power plant right there to the highest standers and demonstrate to the country and to the world that the United States can and should use nuclear power.”
Rob Watkins, a freshman in AU’s School of International Service
“I definitely think it’s a good way, if they can do it safely, it’s a good way to get power to a lot of people for cheaper with less negative effects, if they can control it.”
The down sides?
“I mean, just like Shara Noble, stuff like that happening. I’ve heard of things happening in California, you know, if they cannot contain the nuclear waste, it’s really bad for the environment. But if they can control it, it’s really good.”
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Bombs in Our Backyard
BOMBS
By Marisa Kendall
4/20/2009
The American University administration has failed to adequately inform students and the public about chemical weapons buried on campus after World War, the largest deposit of which may still be lying undetected, a documentary film maker said Thursday.
The U.S. military used AU’s campus as a chemical weapons testing site from 1917 to 1918. Recent excavations on lot 18 near the Public Safety building and on nearby Glenbrook Road have uncovered unexploded munitions and deposits of mustard gas, arsine and arsenic, the Eagle previously reported.
Ginny Durrin, a documentary film maker, screened her film, “Bombs in Our Backyard,” as a work-in-progress Thursday, March 19, in the Weschler Theater of Mary Graydon Center. Following the screening, which was sponsored by the Environmental Film Festival, several experts debated the film’s impact and the larger issue of munitions found in the area.
Though the Army Corps claims it has safely removed all hazardous material from AU and neighboring Spring Valley, Durrin said she believes the largest burial site may still be lying undetected underneath the AU campus. The soil surrounding the Kreeger and Watkins buildings has a high concentration of perchlorate, a component commonly found in explosives. This burial site may be the source of the contamination found in Spring Valley, Durrin said.
These locations also match up with WWI diagrams that depict a main burial site larger than the others, Durrin said.
“All of this is hypothesis, but I think it needs to be tested,” she said.
While AU’s administration is attempting to investigate and clean up the toxins using government grants, it has not given students and the public enough information on the situation, according to Durrin.
“I think AU is trying to correct the past quietly and slowly,” she said.
Tom Smith, the advisory neighborhood commissioner for Spring Valley, said that the problem is increasing government secrecy since 9/11. Items have been dug up in the grounds around the president’s house on campus, but officials will not inform the public of what has been found, Smith said.
“There’s a lack of transparency now which I think is very, very troubling,” he said.
Bethany Bridgham, senior associate general counsel in AU’s legal counsel office, said the university sent memos last December to individuals who attended classes or worked in areas near the dig. Nearby buildings included academic buildings Watkins and Kreeger, the Admissions Office and the Financial Aid Office. The memo instructed students to go into the nearest building and seal all doorways and windows in the event of a chemical emergency signaled by the school’s siren.
The university has also set up a Web site at http://american.edu/usace/ to keep students updated on the status of the investigations.
Durrin has been working on “Bombs in Our Backyard” for the past 16 years, following the story since a construction worker first discovered a shell during a 1993 construction project in Spring Valley.
The film juxtaposed shots of large houses and green, suburban lawns with residents’ stories of mysterious illnesses and frustration at not having answers. One resident said on camera that three people on her block got lung cancer even though they did not smoke. A team of construction workers who had dug a foundation in the area recalled seeing silver particles floating in the air and experiencing itching and vomiting during work.
Petruniak said he thinks the film should be used to raise awareness on a national level about the many other areas across the country affected by buried chemical weapons. It is unfair that there are many poor communities in the country dealing with problems similar to Spring Valley without the money and resources to do anything about it, he said.
Durrin said she hopes the film will keep society from forgetting what happened in Spring Valley. She also said she believes there is more to the story and urged AU students to question a variety of sources and try to piece the missing pieces of the puzzle.
“People should press to find out,” she said.
AU officials could not be reached for comments.
Mark Petruniak, a senior in the School of International Service, helped log and digitize footage for “Bombs in Our Backyard” while working for Durrin as an intern last summer.
“I think it’s something that [AU students] should be concerned about,” he said. “It’s certainly not safe.”
###
By Marisa Kendall
4/20/2009
The American University administration has failed to adequately inform students and the public about chemical weapons buried on campus after World War, the largest deposit of which may still be lying undetected, a documentary film maker said Thursday.
The U.S. military used AU’s campus as a chemical weapons testing site from 1917 to 1918. Recent excavations on lot 18 near the Public Safety building and on nearby Glenbrook Road have uncovered unexploded munitions and deposits of mustard gas, arsine and arsenic, the Eagle previously reported.
Ginny Durrin, a documentary film maker, screened her film, “Bombs in Our Backyard,” as a work-in-progress Thursday, March 19, in the Weschler Theater of Mary Graydon Center. Following the screening, which was sponsored by the Environmental Film Festival, several experts debated the film’s impact and the larger issue of munitions found in the area.
Though the Army Corps claims it has safely removed all hazardous material from AU and neighboring Spring Valley, Durrin said she believes the largest burial site may still be lying undetected underneath the AU campus. The soil surrounding the Kreeger and Watkins buildings has a high concentration of perchlorate, a component commonly found in explosives. This burial site may be the source of the contamination found in Spring Valley, Durrin said.
These locations also match up with WWI diagrams that depict a main burial site larger than the others, Durrin said.
“All of this is hypothesis, but I think it needs to be tested,” she said.
While AU’s administration is attempting to investigate and clean up the toxins using government grants, it has not given students and the public enough information on the situation, according to Durrin.
“I think AU is trying to correct the past quietly and slowly,” she said.
Tom Smith, the advisory neighborhood commissioner for Spring Valley, said that the problem is increasing government secrecy since 9/11. Items have been dug up in the grounds around the president’s house on campus, but officials will not inform the public of what has been found, Smith said.
“There’s a lack of transparency now which I think is very, very troubling,” he said.
Bethany Bridgham, senior associate general counsel in AU’s legal counsel office, said the university sent memos last December to individuals who attended classes or worked in areas near the dig. Nearby buildings included academic buildings Watkins and Kreeger, the Admissions Office and the Financial Aid Office. The memo instructed students to go into the nearest building and seal all doorways and windows in the event of a chemical emergency signaled by the school’s siren.
The university has also set up a Web site at http://american.edu/usace/ to keep students updated on the status of the investigations.
Durrin has been working on “Bombs in Our Backyard” for the past 16 years, following the story since a construction worker first discovered a shell during a 1993 construction project in Spring Valley.
The film juxtaposed shots of large houses and green, suburban lawns with residents’ stories of mysterious illnesses and frustration at not having answers. One resident said on camera that three people on her block got lung cancer even though they did not smoke. A team of construction workers who had dug a foundation in the area recalled seeing silver particles floating in the air and experiencing itching and vomiting during work.
Petruniak said he thinks the film should be used to raise awareness on a national level about the many other areas across the country affected by buried chemical weapons. It is unfair that there are many poor communities in the country dealing with problems similar to Spring Valley without the money and resources to do anything about it, he said.
Durrin said she hopes the film will keep society from forgetting what happened in Spring Valley. She also said she believes there is more to the story and urged AU students to question a variety of sources and try to piece the missing pieces of the puzzle.
“People should press to find out,” she said.
AU officials could not be reached for comments.
Mark Petruniak, a senior in the School of International Service, helped log and digitize footage for “Bombs in Our Backyard” while working for Durrin as an intern last summer.
“I think it’s something that [AU students] should be concerned about,” he said. “It’s certainly not safe.”
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