NPR piece

[Bernard L Cohen <blc+@pitt.edu>]

	National Public Radio's "Morning Report" put out a really bad 
piece this morning. My letter to them follows; letters from others would 
be useful.


								August 
22, 1996
The Morning Report
National Public Radio
635 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20001-3753

Dear Sir:

	I am writing to protest bitterly against your piece in RThe 
Morning ReportS of Thursday, August 22, about the war by RClamshell 
AllianceS against the Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant. It was completely 
one-sided, glorifying Clamshell Alliance and implicitly attacking not 
only the Seabrook Plant but all nuclear power plants. The underlying tone 
of the piece was that nuclear power is bad, and those who attacked it 
were heroic. This is in sharp contrast to the views of the overwhelming 
majority of scientists and other technical experts, over 90% of whom 
support nuclear power and consider the attackers to be misguided, 
uninformed, or worse.

	I did not take notes as I heard the report while half asleep, but 
let me offer a few specific criticisms:
	1. Giving the Chernobyl accident as evidence that nuclear power 
is dangerous; the Chernobyl plant was vastly different than U.S. plants 
and could not have been licensed in U.S.; that type accident could not 
happen in U.S. Plants. Incidently, it was not a RmeltdownS as was stated. 
	2. Citing the time delay for completion and cost over-run of the 
Seabrook plant as shortcomings of the technology; actually they were 
caused by Clamshell Alliance.
	3. Ignoring the fact that the stated goal of Clamshell Alliance 
was to save some soft shell clams, and that the Plant constructors 
eventually satisfied that problem at a cost of billions of dollars.
	4. Treating law-breakers as heroes; do you support the right of 
anyone so ignorant as not to understand the basis for laws, to just break 
them and be labelled RheroesS?
	5. There was no mention of the fact that fossil fuel burning 
electric power plants, the only alternative to nuclear plants like 
Seabrook, are recognized to be killing tens of thousands of people per 
year, whereas there is no evidence that any U.S.-type nuclear plant has 
ever killed anyone.
	6. There was no mention of the great environmental advantages of 
nuclear plants over fossil fuel plants - no air pollution, no global 
warming, no acid rain, no acid mine drainage, etc, etc

	There were many other points that disturbed me, and if you want 
more details, just send me a transcript and I will respond promptly.

	That piece was so bad and one-sided that I feel very strongly 
that NPR is duty bound to put on a separate piece to balance it. I have 
published three books filled with material that would help you prepare 
such a piece, and will send you copies if you request them for that 
purpose. I would be glad to help in preparation of such a piece, or if 
you prefer, I can recommend other scientists who would be willing to help.

								Sincerely Yours,



								Bernard 
L. Cohen
								Professor 
of Physics and of 				
								

Bernard L. Cohen
Physics Dept.
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
Tel: (412)624-9245
Fax: (412)624-9163
e-mail: blc+@pitt.edu