Word: nrc
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Conducted with the sponsorship of several Government agencies, the yearlong NRC study agreed that fluorocarbons do, as suspected, percolate upward into the stratosphere, where their chlorine atoms react with and thus destroy ozone molecules. According to the NRC report, if the fluorocarbon release continues at the 1973 rate, it could ultimately deplete the three-mile-thick ozone layer by as much as 7%. Public health authorities predict that the subsequent increase in the amount of ultraviolet light reaching the earth would raise by about 200 the number of Americans afflicted annually by malignant melanoma, a form of skin cancer that...
Short Delay. In the light of this evidence, NRC scientists believe that some if not most uses of fluorocarbon sprays will eventually have to be curtailed. But the committee stopped short of advocating an immediate ban. Instead, it recommended a delay of not more than two years, during which science could learn even more about the sprays' effects on the ozone layer. The suggestion makes sense. Scientists are still uncertain about the rate at which ozone is destroyed or replaced and need time to learn more about atmospheric chemistry. Nor is a two-year delay thought to be dangerous...
...nuclear aid to India. To keep the U.S. from following suit, the Indian government pledged to use American materials exclusively in its civilian reactors. The Natural Resources Defense Council, a U.S. environmental-law group, worried nonetheless about India's capacity to create more A-bombs and asked the NRC to stop the uranium sale. In response, the NRC's commissioners decided to hold two days of hearings in Washington...
India's case thus points up the confusions in the U.S.'s nuclear policy, confusions that the NRC cannot resolve alone. The commission will probably approve the uranium sale-on the condition that India sends the fuel's "ashes" back to the U.S. after it has been used. That would remove the temptation to transmute the spent uranium into bomb-quality material. But it would also have the unpleasant effect of making the U.S. responsible for India's radioactive wastes. Nor would such a decision establish the guidelines that are sorely needed on which nations...
...citizens will vote in June on a proposal that in effect would block more atomic power plants in the state. On the other hand, if PG&E is correct, buttressing the plant would cost millions of dollars, which would be passed on to consumers in higher electricity rates. The NRC says it will decide by March 1. If it gives a go-ahead, it must then live with the chance of being wrong...