Friday, 28 February 1992 Washington, DC

1. NSF GETS A DOSE OF REALITY THERAPY IN APPROPRIATIONS HEARING.
Last year, the House subcommittee that funds NASA and NSF tried to kill the Space Station and fully fund NSF. In appreciation, a group of NSF supporters gave Bob Traxler (D-MI), the gutsy chair of the subcommittee, an award on Tuesday. Alas, earlier in the day, Traxler had to tell Walter Massey that NSF's request for an 18% increase in FY 93 is unrealistic in a flat budget--maybe 5%.

2. GAO SAYS NASA "CHASING TOO MUCH PROGRAM WITH TOO FEW DOLLARS."
The General Accounting Office contends that NASA will be forced to cut its programs $21B through FY 97 if domestic discretionary spending is constrained at this year's level. The prediction was released yesterday by Sen. Bumpers (D-AR) and Rep. Durbin (D-IL), who called for an end to Space Station funding. But will the budget cap remain in place? The House Budget Committee is ready to call for taking $15B from defense, but has not decided whether the funds should go to domestic programs or deficit reduction.

3. NASA ACCUSED OF ATTEMPTING TO WITHHOLD INFORMATION ON SP- 100!
During a review of the controversial program to develop a 100 kW space nuclear reactor, the House Investigations Subcommittee of Science, Space and Technology uncovered a NASA "how-to manual" on circumventing the Freedom of Information Act. The outraged Chair of the Subcommittee, Howard Wolpe (D-MI), described the document as an attempt by NASA to subvert not only the FOIA, but the right of Congress to review agency decision making. Indeed, the manual calls for destruction of documents, which, Wolpe points out, is a violation of federal law. During the Reagan years, NASA regularly sought an exclusion to the FOIA, but Congress refused. The SP-100 was once meant to power Star Wars battle stations, but SDI pulled out when Star Wars was grounded. Ironically, NASA seems to be on the verge of dumping the SP-100 in favor of a Soviet design.

4. RUSSIAN AND U.S. NUCLEAR WEAPONS SCIENTISTS DISCUSS CONVERSION
of warheads and weapons laboratories. A group of senior weapons specialists from the former Soviet Union (FSU) are in Washington to discuss the complex of problems involved in converting to a peaceful economy. They propose to use fissile material recovered from dismantled weapons as fuel in nuclear power plants. The head of the Arzamas-16 lab estimates that the weapons will yield 100 million grams of plutonium-239 and five times that much highly enriched uranium. Each gram should produce about 275 kilowatt-days of electric power. Ironically, the FSU must continue making plutonium until about the year 2000! The production reactors are also used to heat apartment buildings and generate electricity; the power is still needed. The scientists said they have adequate facilities for dismantling weapons in the FSU, but help is needed to develop secure storage. The whole range of conversion problems is being covered at a workshop sponsored by the Federation of American Scientists and the Natural Resources Defense Council.



Bob Park can be reached via email at whatsnew@bobpark.org
THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND
Opinions are the author's and are not necessarily shared by the University, but they should be.