Friday, 25 Mar 94 Washington, DC

1. REINVENTING NASA: WILL IT BE A SPACE STATION OR SPACE SCIENCE?
A report by the Congressional Budget Office, released yesterday, warns that "cheaper, faster, better" won't save much in the near term. Under a flat annual budget of $14B (the best NASA can hope for) robotic space science would have to be drastically reduced to pay for the space station. Drop the space station, and NASA could have everything else for $11B a year. Eliminate piloted spaceflight, the report says, and NASA could have a robust space science program on an annual budget of only $7B. NASA Administrator Dan Goldin labelled the report "defeatist." NASA, Goldin vowed, would not back away from the Administration's balanced program of human spaceflight, space science and aeronautics.

2. JOHN NUCKOLLS, LIVERMORE LAB DIRECTOR, IS PRESSURED TO RESIGN!
Lack of leadership in shifting to nondefense programs was cited in a highly negative report by a University of California review committee headed by former NASA Administrator Richard Truly. But Nuckolls is not going quietly. In a public statement, he blamed the criticism on "dissatisfied employees and special interest groups." A close associate of Edward Teller and an advocate of continued nuclear testing, he thinks defense will continue to be the main business of the Lab "based upon unfolding world events." Nuckolls was picked to head the Lab six years ago. He replaced Roger Batzel who got in trouble over exaggerated claims for the mythical x-ray laser. Only the regents can fire Nuckolls; the pressure to resign comes from UC President Jack Peltason and Vice President Walter Massey, who is responsible for Lab relations.

3. "MR. PLUTO" EXPLAINS TO JAPANESE CHILDREN THAT PU IS FRIENDLY!
To prepare the Japanese public for the start-up of the plutonium-fueled Monju breeder reactor, the government-owned nuclear fuel company (PNC) distributed an informational video that features a lovable cartoon character, Mr. Pluto, who explains how benign Pu is. Like Joe Camel, Mr. Pluto is designed to appeal to the young. Plutonium, Mr. Pluto tells the kiddies, is safe enough to drink; what's more, he says, reactor plutonium is not very good for making bombs. Well, it is true that most ingested plutonium passes harmlessly through the alimentary canal, and it is hard to make high-yield bombs from the stuff you get from power reactors. But some ingested Pu can be absorbed, and even low-yield bombs are bad enough (WN 28 Jan 94), so the Secretary of Energy--ours, not theirs--called for the video to be withdrawn. The president of the Nuclear Control Institute, a Washington-based anti-nuclear organization, challenged the president of PNC, Tadao Ishiwatari, to drink a gram of Pu on television. "Drink up or shut up" one headline read. A gram? The solubility of PuO in water is about .001 grams per cubic meter. An autopsy would show he drowned! The Monju breeder reactor is the first step in an ambitious program meant to make Japan energy self-reliant (WN 15 Jan 93).



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.