HOW I CLOSED 17 NUCLEAR REACTORS IN THREE WEEKS
I posed as a reporter for Vermont Living Magazine (fictional). I said I was doing a story on a town that had a nuclear facility for a long time, I interviewed people from Akin South Carolina about what life was like living under the shadow of a nuclear facility, and my husband photographed them. When we got home to Vermont, I sent a telegram to all major publications like People Magazine, The Inquirer, Time, New York Times and the Washington Post, etc. My telegram said “When the Akin South Carolina Savanna’s River Plant’s Nuclear reactors crash in August causing a major nuclear meltdown I had pictures and stories of the Victims for sale”. I got responses from 70% of the telegrams I sent and I bet 100% responded to the White House. President Reagan was in the middle of a huge scandal the (Iran-Contra) deal, he (The powers that be) sold arms to Iran to gain the release of our American hostages, i.e.: yielding to terrorist blackmail, The Reagan administration could not afford another scandal. The Washington Post took my crusade and Voilà, 17 very dangerous reactors were shut down and you thought there were no miracles!!!!
When I saw two men in suits sitting in a dark sedan in front of my Vermont Farm house, my farm was 168 acres, a half mile away from the main road in White River Junction Vermont. I was afraid they might be planning a Martha Mitchell on me and I fled to a friend’s house in New Jersey and gave up my activism. I will run the pictures and stories of Akin South Carolina in a later date on www.grandmasopinions.com
Here are some newspaper articles on the Savannah River Plant, you can find more on the internet.
 
Copyright of the Washington Post
August 18, 1988, Thursday, Final Edition
 HEADLINE: Reactor Runs Out of Control Briefly;
Weapons Plant Shut Down After 'Complete Collapse' of Safety Rules
BYLINE: Cass Peterson, Washington Post Staff Writer

SECTION: FIRST SECTION; PAGE A1 
Savannah River managers said they decided to shut down the reactor after "additional discussions" with du Pont. "They continue to believe that the reactors are safe, but believe the prudent thing to do is to bring the reactor down until these issues are resolved," said plant manager William Kasper.
 
According to department officials and other sources, the incident began Aug. 7 when operators began to restart Savannah River's P reactor, which has been shut down since early April for safety modifications and maintenance. Operators immediately ran into problems, apparently because engineers had failed to calculate accurately the amount of decay products that had built up in the tritium-producing reactor during its shutdown.
Home