Protest targets unsafe Fernald uranium plant

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6 SOCIALIST ACTION SEPTEMBER 1986 which was sponsored by Cincinnati NOW and the March 9th Abortion Rights Committee, a group inspired by this spring's national March for Women's Lives. Other rally endorsers included women's groups, political organizations, gay and lesbian rights groups, and pro-choice organizations.

The rally was picketed by about 40 especially obnoxious anti-abortion pro -testers. University police arrested four on criminal-trespass charges. Others were ejected from the hall after they attempted to disrupt the meeting. Many of the prochoicers who attended the rally were shocked by the viciousness of the taunts this hateful bunch hurled at them on their way into the rally.

"Project Jericho"

Last December, two Cincinnati abortion clinics were firebombed. One of the facilities, operated by Planned Parenthood, sustained over $400,000 worth of damage and must be totally rebuilt. Temporary quarters have been the target of regular Saturday harassment by anti-choice forces.

Each weekend a screaming mob of 50 to 200 vengeful religious pickets harass clinic patients and staff. These anti-choice forces have succeeded in limiting the hours and services available at other clinics and hospitals in Cincinnati.

On July 26, "Project Jericho," an organization of born-again bigots, expanded its pickets to the homes of Planned Fernald workers on strike in October 1985.

CINCINNATI, Ohio-On Aug. 9, the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, the Cincinnati Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign sponsored a protest gathering at the gates of the Fernald uranium processing plant northwest of the city.

Fernald plays a key part in the production of nuclear weapons and is one of the largest storage facilities of low-level nuclear wastes in the country. The plant has drawn national attention for the blatant manner in which the Defense Department and National Lead of Ohio, which operated the plant until this year, ignored the steady leakage of uranium dust into the air and ground water.

Since the plant opened in 1951, some 215,000 pounds of radioactive dust have been released into the atmosphere and 163,000 pounds into the water. The Department of Energy reported last year that another 11.3 million pounds of uranium are buried at the plant.

Gene Branham, head of the Atomic Trade and Labor Council, recently testified before the House Energy and Commerce NIN Socialist Action/Bob Henes Committee that workers at the plant have been handling uranium contaminated with plutonium for 20 years without any safety instructions.

Daniel J. Arthur, the plant's safety auditor, resigned last month with a public blast at the safety record of Fernald. "The Fernald site is the most blatant offender of workers in the public health area I have ever seen," he said.

Speakers at the Aug. 9 event included David Fankhauser, a leader of the successful movement to halt the opening of the Zimmer nuclear plant at Moscow, Ohio. In hearings before the Public Utility presented evidence of slipshod engineering at Zimmer. Southwestern Ohio was spared a disaster similar to the one at Three Mile Island through the efforts of activist groups to mobilize masses of citizens who would be potentially affected.

Fernald is likewise a powderkeg. Fankhauser pointed out that Fernald houses wastes from the Manhattan Project, which produced the first atomic bomb in 1945. It must be dealt with in the same manner as Zimmer-through well-publicized demon -strations and educational projects.

The plant, operated for the Defense Department, was recently taken over by the Westinghouse Corp. But no visible steps have been taken to reduce health and safety hazards. It must be made clear that there is no safe way to produce nuclear products or nuclear energy. In order to close the plant permanently, only a huge public outcry will be effective.