The Vancouver Sun from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada • 8

A2 Shutdown could be forever at. Quebec's lemon N-plant By KEN POLE Special to The San OTTAWA An experimental nuclear reactor built in Quebec with federal taxpayers' money is being shut down, possibly for good, because of serious technical problems. The Gentilly-l reactor, owned by Atomic Energy of Canada was i built about eight years ago at an initial cost of between $100 million and $120 million and, at the time, was heralded as a key to cheap electricity throughout Eastern Canada. But the 250-megawatt unit on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River across from Trois-Rivieres has been nothing but trouble right from the start.

"Its been a bummer," one official said Monday of the plant that some scientists have condemned as "a lemon." Confirming the shutdown, Hugh Spence of the Atomic Energy Control Board said: "It is possible that Gentilly 1 will have to be closed permanently." The plant has functioned for only 10 days since May, 1977. The latest problems, which arose when the plant was being reactivated recently after seven-month shutdown, has cast doubt on its future. When the first shutdown occurred in 1972 because of unspecified problems, there was talk of dismantling the reactor and writing it off as a bad investment. AECL decided to press ahead with the project despite concerns expressed by some of its own people and problems were encountered again and again. The most recent trouble began in May, 1977, when the plant was shut for repairs to the steam turbines that generate electricity for the Quebec Hydro power grid.

Last summer, the Atomic Energy Control Board, the federal nuclear regulatory agency, ordered a total shutdown until emergency safety systems were, improved. Then, late last year, the AECB authorized a gradual buildup to 60 per cent power with a promise to full power approval once the steam turbines were in operation. But sources say that when technicians began bringing the plant up to 60 per cent capacity, one problem after another arose. "So we've applied for a zero licence," one official said, explaining this means Officials are quick to point out that the problems will all along have had nothing to do with the reactor core itself, but rather arose in auxiliary equipment. One conceded, after stressing that there was no danger of radiation; leakage, that the over-all problem is no less serious.

Shutdown of even this reactor which, unlike the exclusively heavy-water-using Candu, uses heavy water as a moderator and ordinary "light" water as a coolant couldn't have come at a worse time. another complete shutdown. Although officials at AECL and the AECB would not be specific, it is understood the latest difficulties have to do with the pumps and valves that control the reactor cooling systems. "We were experiencing wild flucua-tions in temperatures," one official said. The question now, according to political sources, is whether Gentilly-l ever will produce another watt of power.

Some argue that another startup and the months of gradual testing to bring any reactor to full power would be simply throwing more money away. 'Berlin Wall' angers Rockcliffe Flying pulpworlcer pickets spread forest shutdown 1 f1 TJ x' i ww i i i i i i I T-M Vy II IMIIH II i A 7 ruiiiiv OTTAWA (UPC) The building of a "Berlin Wall" around the Iraqi ambassador's new home in Rockcliffe Park has angered a number of residents in the fashionable area. "You would think the Shah of Iran was coming to live here," one surly but unidentified neighbor of Ambassador Faiq Mukh-lis said Monday. "We call it the Berlin Wall orStalaglT." The lVi-metre, iron-spiked wall, being built for security purposes, is part of a $1 million renovation program to the house. Just four doors away is the home of former prime minister John Diefenbaker, who says he will demand destruction of the wall when Parliament sits this fall.

Rockcliffe Reeve Beryl Plumptre, former chairman of the food prices review board, said she expects the wall will be discussed at the next council meeting. There are 48 embassies in the scenic suburb. A spokesman for the ambassador said such a wall is "a tradional thing used in Iraq. houses have walls." I mar 1L Wf. Kl SMpfml Continued from page 1 workers, described as the richest in the history of B.C.

labor contracts. The International Woodworkers of America recommended acceptance while the CPU made that move conditional on resolution of local issues, which this week were narrowed down to the final one on the northern allowance. Dick Lester, -president of the Pulp and Paper Industrial Relations Bureau, said such an allowance cannot be given Macke-zie workers north of Prince George "without affecting the whole industry." Lester said the CPU was told three times during negotiations that the allowance could not be negotiated as a local issue. He denied CPU charges that a special allowance had been taken away from Mackenzie workers. He said such concessions were meant to cover a start-up period in new pulp mills and were never negotiated as permanent benefits.

The IWA had one trouble spot in Port Alberni where about 4,000 workers stayed off the job. Earl Foxcroft, president of the IWA's Port Alberni local, said be was advising the workers to return to their jobs so they can vote on the proposed pact. Foxcroft said balloting in the i v. CPWlrsphoto DIEFENBAKER with wall contractor Albert Shimoon Takeover of public transit begins schedule is 'one year to never' ber Port Alberni local probably will start no later than Thursday and should be completed by July 20. The Alberni Valley walkouts started about 10 days ago in one of the area's logging camps and spread throughout the local IWA negotiators predicted that a tentative agreement will be reached Wednesday when bargaining resumes between Interior Forest Industrial Relations and the IWA.

Results of the PPWC ratification vote are expected Thursday night PPWC second vice-president Jim Sloan said it was expected that individual union locals would be serving 72-hour strike notice to go into effect Friday morning if the pact is turned down. PPWC pickets closed down MacMillan Bloedel's Harmac mill near Nanaimo and then shut down Mac-Bio's Port Alberni mill, which employs 1,200 CPU members. Nearly 900 members of both pulp unions were off the job in two Prince George pulp mills, Prince George Pulp and Paper and Intercontinental Pulp. CPU vice-president Art Gruntman said one of the local issues cleared up, subject to a vote by the 750 workers, involves shift scheduling at the Eurocan mill at Kitimat. Gruntman said the 300 members of two CPU locals at Mackenzie Products and B.C.

Forest Products mills in Mackenzie area were previously given an extra week's vacation as incentive for the isolation. He said they lost that provision in 1977 and are demanding some form of recognition of the isolation, The 41,000 workers have been offered a first-year wage increase of 90 cents an hour and a second-year hike of 90 cents or 9.5 per cent, whichever is higher. Job picture brightens OTTAWA (CP) Continuing a trend that began last fall, unemployment fell to its lowest level in 2ft years during June, Statistics Canada reported today. Nationally the number of people without jobs was 798,000, down from 836,000 in May. That produced a seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate of 7.5 per cent, down from 7.7 per cent in May but still one of the highest rates in the industrialized world.

In British Columbia the rate was 7.7 per cent compared with 8.3 per cent in May. Across the country the number of people with jobs increased during June to 10.6 million, reflecting the creation of 263,000 new jobs during the month. Fur theft charges laid Ronald Joseph Tessier, 25, has been charged with breaking and entering and possession of stolen property following the recovery of almost $100,000 in furs stolen from L. and Furs 910 Mainland. Tessier, of no fixed address, was remanded in custody in provincial court today until July 16 to set a trial date.

He was charged after police pulled over a car Monday afternoon at Commercial and Hastings for a routine check and found plastic bags containing fur coats. Police are still looking for a few furs not found in the vehicle. SFU association set for bargaining Professional and administrative staff at Simon Fraser University are forming an association to represent them in salary bargaining and other job-related matters. A five-member staff committee, which has been working on a constitution since the fall, has proposed that the association be a registered society, rather than a trade union. The association would bargain for salaries for its 250 members, facilitate professional development, represent members in job-related disputes and serve as a social organization, an SFU spokesman said.

The committee plans to hold information meetings for staff in the fall and hopes to have the association in place by the end of theyear. SUNDAY PAPER FOR PROVINCE The Province newspaper today announced plans to scrap its Saturday weekend edition and publish a home-delivered Sunday edition starting Aug. 12. Publisher Paddy Sherman said today the move results from marketing studies begun in 1977 which demonstrate public interest in a quality Sunday paper. The Daily Courier, which began daily publication in Vancouver on July 4, has already introduced its Funday tabloid paper.

HEADING FOR OCEAN NASA predicts Skylab crash to be harmless WASHINGTON (AP) Skylab's "countdown to crash" ticked relentlessly on today, and a U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration official said there is a good chance all the debris from the faltering hulk will fall harmlessly to earth Wednesday. "Right now, it looks like it's going to come down in the South Atlantic Ocean or in the Indian Ocean," said Richard Smith, head of the space agency's Skylab team. The North American Air Defence Command said today in its forecast that the 77Vi-ton station will fall out of orbit in a 12H-hour period, between 4:02 a.m. and 1:02 p.m.

Vancouver time Wednesday. The midpoint of that period was set at Smith cautioned that predictions at this point are imprecise, and if the station "flies a little longer, pieces could hit Australia. Or if it flies even longer, or backs up, parts of it could fall in the United States." The midpoint prediction'has remained fairly steady within a range of 12 minutes for three straight forecasts, making it likely that Skylab will reenter as predicted so far. If the Skylab entry does begin p.m., the spacecraft would begin to break up over the South Atlantic and scatter hundreds of molten debris over that body of water, off the coast of South Africa and in the Indian Ocean. The debris, with chunks weighing from .45 kilograms to 2tt tons, is expected to scatter over an area 9,600 kilometres long and 160 kilometres wide.

Trackers said Skylab was orbiting at an altitude of 176 kilometres, a drop of 13 kilometres in 24 hours. At 160 kilometres, it will begin to glow from the heat of re-entry. At about 110 kilometres, it will begin to break apart Meanwhile, a 58-year-old Filipino man died of a heart attack shouting "Skylab! Skylab!" in his sleep, the Manila Bulletin reported today. Headlined "Skylab Scare Kills Man in his Sleep," the front-page story said Simeon Galvez was stricken Saturday "as a result of the nightmare." The report said members of the family ignored his shouts, thinking it was a joke. Winner.to take trip A 46-year-old Vancouver welder who has become B.C.'s second $1 million winner from the June 24 Provincial lottery draw says he plans to invest his money and take a trip back to his native Japan.

Shigeyoshi Hamazalri, a bachelor, came to Canada 20 years ago. He said he had purchased 14 tickets for the June 24 draw and had got another three tickets free. Spokesmen for B.C. Hydro and the GVRD said today they could not comment until they study the legislation. Vander Zalm said outside the house that he could not give even a ballpark figure as to the value of the assets to be transferred "because we're still sort of determining as to exactly what all assets are related to urban transit" Asked whether Hydro had agreed to the bill, the minister said after a lengthy pause: "There have been long negotiations between Hydro and ourselves as to naturally how such (transfer of assets) might best be accomplished and I'm not sure that Hydro would agree to all that's in the bill.

"But it's a function of government to make the transition as smoothly as possible to protect the interests of the taxpayer and, of course, the employees of Hydro to ensure their benefits are appropriately transferred." Vander Zalm said he expects Hydro will experience some benefit from the takeover but hedged when asked whether it will mean the company will be able to lower its electricity rates. The new company win serve as the operating arm of the Urban Transit Authority, established last year as a Crown corporation to plan and help fund municipal transit systems throughout B.C. The Urban Transit Authority Act, enacted in June of 1978, enabled B.C. Hydro to divest itself of its money-losing bus operation but included a provision that Hydro would continue to operate transit until a By CAROL VOLKART Sun Victoria Burean VICTORIA Legislation setting up a new company to take over all B.C. Hydro urban transit operations was introduced Monday by Municipal Affairs Minister Bill Vander Zalm.

However, no deadline has been set for the takeover because no agreement has been reached on the value of Hydro assets involved or funding of the Urban Transit Authority set up last year to run transit services. Vander Zalm said the takeover will not occur until negotiations with Hydro and the Greater Vancouver regional district are completed. The GVRD has balked at financing costs of the Urban Transit Authority out of property taxes. Hydro transit operations in Vancouver and Victoria tost $61 million last year. Vander Zalm said he is thinking in terms of a nominal $1 offer for the assets and conceded that Hydro "naturally" would prefer more.

"It could be one year, two years, it could be never," Vander Zalm said when asked outside the house when the takeover might occur. The Metro Transit Operating Company Act, Bill 19, authorizes the Metro Transit Operating Co. to take over all urban transit in B.C., including 736 motor buses, 285 trol-Z ley buses, 3,000 transit employees and vari- ous holdings of B.C. Hydro, and the two SeaBus ferries which run between Vancou- ver and North Vancouver. new operating company was established.

Since that time, the government has been conducting negotiations with the GVRD in an effort to reach an agreement but has stumbled over the issue of how transit systems will be funded in the Lower Mainland. Vander Zalm has previously warned that he would introduce legislation during this sitting to set up an alternative authority to be responsible for transit in the Lower Mainland. On Monday, he stressed that further negotiations are planned with the GVRD. "The transfer won't take place until we have all of our other negotiations complete and it could be that that could take a while yet," he said. "It could be one year, two years, it could be never.

"This legislation will be in place for when the transfer needs to take place but we haven't reached that stage because we've not yet finalized our negotiations with the Greater Vancouver Regional District." Vander Zalm said he expects to be meeting with the GVRD some time later this month and that will be a high priority on his schedule when the legislative session ends. He said that, If agreement can't be reached with the GVRD, there are two options: "First, we could force them, and I don't like that idea. Or we would establish a one-purpose board to provide that service which otherwise the GVRD would provide." If the board option is necessary, it would be an independent body with appointees from the various municipal councils or municipalities, he said. Under the bill, the minister can decide which assets will be turned over to the new corporation, its parent the UTA or to the government-owned Pacific Coach Lines. Charge laid in death A Surrey man has been charged in connection with a highway collision on May 19 that resulted in the death of Patricia Mor-ley, the holder of the Miss Vancouver title.

Morley, of 3095 Venables, died in hospital four days after the accident at Eraser and Pacific highways. She had been returning from the Cioverdale rodeo. Digby M. Metzger, of 13485-98th alleged by police to have been the driver of a truck involved in the collision, has been charged with impaired driving and criminal negligence. He is to appear in court on July 26.

LATE STOCKS VANCOUVM RESOURCES NwnOneh 395 .70 ArtonRw 173 .13 QuHtlnt 275 12133 ContBoun ti .02 101,450 BwtorRrf 103 WOUSTOlALt 74500 ftguTtan 450 .40 17,000 Finning 37 4,100 Tiolndut 3S5 unctl 2,450 NrttiwuyQet 155 1.900 DkpDw Itto CURBS 777,250 AtamiMWg 235 .40 136 .200 Tomux Rm 335 .60 99.800 Naptuna Ra 130 .40 62,500 AjcP 115 .15 61,500 Por Exp avt Vofcimt: 5,106.711 DOWJOWfS NEW YORK Dow Jon dosing mom TumOw: 30 Muxrufe 85026 2.73 20 Tmneportitton 250.34 1.22 15 UtM 105 29 0 54 8 8toc 300.87 0.67 IPop bottle ban demanded WEATHER REPORT Lawrence had urged consumers to "use extreme caution" when handling the bottles and he advised parents to keep them out of reach of children. A four-year-old Toronto boy lost his left eye in one accident Lawrence also had appealed to soft drink manufacturers to stop distribution and remove the bottles from retail stores. The consumer affairs minister said last week that if manufacturers did not comply with his request for a voluntary recall he would have to resort to more restrictive measures. Miles said the government should establish an "early warning system" for hazardous consumer products, with a program similar to those in the United States and Britain where information on consumer goods in distributed. 23 OTTAWA (UPO Soft drink companies I have not responded to a voluntary recall of I 1.5-litre pop bottles and the government must now impose a ban on their sale, the I Consumers' Association of Canada said today.

More than 50 people have been injured I by glass from the bottles, which explode easily when tipped over. Consumer Affairs Minister Allan Law- rence requested a voluntary recall of the bottles last month. "It is now clear that the June 28 request for a voluntary recall of large-size pop bottles has not resulted in the hoped-for elimination of the products from retail stores," CAC President Yvonne Miles said. I She said consumers are still open to the possibility of severe injury from the bottles and Lawrence should order an immediate ban on their sale. Coast, vsneouvtr Misnd, Normsm Mainland.

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St Johns 23 '2 WEDNESDAY: Cloudy, showers. SYNOPSIS: Cool, unstable air moving in from the west will maintain a mixture of clouds, sunshine and showers. FORECASTS Vancouver, Lomi Frmr Hew Sunthir Wednesday a.m. forecast map 13 18 19 19 14 18 14 IS 10 13 12 13 19 IS 17 17 19 23 24 30 19 19 25 12 22 18 13 15 11 19 10 15 15 14 22 28 28 Montreal 29 Onaws 29 Toronto 26 ThunderBay 23 Winnipeg 33 Regtna 32 Calgary'. 25 Edmonton 25 Prince Rupert 25 PrtnceGeorge 28 Voone.

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Be. nets, at 9 a-SL MSa). apt. (ftangi. Mnr IT E(J tit he underwent brain surgery to correct difficulty walking.

Fiedler was never a wholehearted favorite of the critics. But despite their barbs, his baton briskly guided the Boston Pops Orchestra through thousands of spritely Symphony Hall concerts, outdoor performances on sultry summer nights, television shows and more than 50 million recordings. To his supporters, he was a waft of fresh air in the concert hall, a man who could gleefully mix Beethoven with the Beatles. Detractors the ones Fiedler called "culture vultures" dismissed him as woefully middle brow, a showman who pandered in glorified Muzak. But the masses who jammed his concerts, bought his records and watched his television programs cerer seemed to pay much attention to that kind of talk.

Probably Fiedler's most lasting contribution to music was his free outdoor concerts. Ever since July 4, 1930, Fiedler con-, ducted orchestral music on the banks of the Charles River. Fiedler pioneered this democratic approach to what had previously been the re BOSTON (AP) For millions of Arthur Fiedler's fans, his snowy sweep of hair, his bristly military mustache and his stern yet I kindly face were the embodiment of good music itself. In a half century on the podium, Fiedler introduced classical music to legions of people who swore they hated longhair music His death today at the age of 84 means the passirg of perhaps the world's most popular conductor and certainly its most 'recognizable. The maestro, who had remained vigor-' ously active until the past year, died at his home.

On June 9, Fiedler suffered a heart at- tack, his fifth since age 44. It was the latest in a series of illnesses that began with surgery to relieve pressure on his brain in December, 1978. I Fiedler opened his 50th season with the Pops in May. But a few days later he col- lapsed backstage and spent several days is the hospital suffering from exhaustion. In November, he returned to hospital suffering from exhaustion, and on Dec 11 MOONPMASES nave at least one or two open-to-all performances a year.

Fiedler was the 17th man to conduct the Boston Pops essentially the Boston Symphony minus its first-chair players but since 1930 he has been Mr. Pops. "Arthur has broken down and trampled on our stuffy old customs and let some fresh air into the concert hall," said Ralph Black, director of the American Symphony Orchestra League, a trade association. "He has revolutionized music in America today," Black said. "We used to simply have the black tie and long dress people come to concerts.

I think to a large extent Arthur Fiedler has showed that you can smile at a concert, have a good time and laugh and enjoy yourseli" Fiedler's formula was to mix fun tunes with serious symphony. "I often feet like a chef planning a meal" he once said. Thwe should be bnrs d'oeuvres, a light coarse, a substantial entree and so on through the musical mesa." -Iv 23 Ton peats 8Y (tooeMwy tasm. 13e 915HW- 14 lie 115pm. 10ma IXrJS.

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