COMMENT ⊗   VALID 00002 PAGES
C REC  PAGE   DESCRIPTION
C00001 00001
C00002 00002	\\M0NGR30\M1BDI25\.
C00008 ENDMK
C⊗;
\\M0NGR30;\M1BDI25;\.
\F0PRO-NUCLEAR ENERGY GROUP FORMED AT STANFORD


\J	The scientific and technological community, and engineers
especially, is slow to get involved in political issues.  However,
one issue which has aroused at least part of the technological
community at Stanford is that of nuclear energy.

	For a long time, the technical community has complacently
assumed that nuclear energy would be developed on a time scale
determined by technological and economic considerations and would
take an increasing place in this country and the world.  After the
onset of the energy crisis in 1973, it seemed a foregone conclusion
that the pace of development of nuclear energy would speed up.
In the world generally, this has been true, but the American nuclear
program has actually slowed down since 1973.

	In part this is because construction costs have increased and
the ability of utilities to finance large investments has decreased,
but another major cause of the slowdown is the increasingly active
opposition to nuclear energy which has now reached the point of
getting a proposition on the June 1976 ballot that would impose
state proof-of-safety requirements in addition to the federal ones
before new nuclear plants could be built or the present ones operated.

	SENSE (Scientists for Enlightenment on Nuclear Sources of
Energy) is a national organization of scientist started by Professor
Hans Bethe of Cornell University and Professor Bernard Cohen of the
University of Pittsburgh.  It first came to Stanford attention when
Professor Bethe and a group of prominent scientists made a public
statement that the energy development in the United States was lagging,
that the situation had not improved since the onset of the energy
crisis, and that much more serious crises lay ahead unless the
United States developed energy more vigorously.  The statement also
affirmed the view that nuclear energy is safe and economical enough
to meet a substantial part of the requirements along with coal,
and that without an increased nuclear program the country would be
in serious difficulty.

	The Stanford chapter of SENSE was formed when Professor Bethe
visited Stanford in March with Professors Felix Bloch and Thomas
Connolly as co-chairmen.  Its members have studied the nuclear energy
issues and have concluded that nuclear energy is safe and economical
enough and is the best bet for electric energy in California.  Its
members also believe that the California Nuclear Initiative should
be defeated, because it will impose unreasonable and ambiguous state
requirements in an area already sufficiently regulated by the federal
government.
\F1The Stanford Chapter also believes that because many of the issues
are technical, the scientific and engineering community has an especial
obligation to inform itself and to help inform the public.
\F0

	The first public meeting of SENSE will be on Wednesday, November 12,
in Tresidder 270.  It will cover one of the safety issues - disposal
of radioactive wastes, and two other issues - America's energy
requirements and the legal effects of the California initiative.
The speakers will be Professor Thomas Connolly of Stanford, 
Dr. Richard Rudman from Electric Power Research Institute,
and Mr. Terry Trumbull an attorney.  Subsequent meetings will deal
with other issues.  Inquiries should be directed to Professor John
McCarthy of Computer Science.\.