Thanks for supporting my ‘Lungs For Life’ derby car

Thanks to everyone who supported my Lungs for Life Soap Box Derby Car. Although I didn’t win the race (finished fifth out of 18 racers) I raised nearly $1,000 for the American Cancer Society. Special thanks to Kroger Westside IGA and Wal-Mart for allowing me to collect donations at their stores.

Cassidy Book

Soap Box Derby Racer

Forum thanks derby volunteers

The Civic Forum wants to thank all of the volunteers that made the June 20, 2009, Soap Box Derby a great success.

The following people and businesses deserve special recognition: USEC, Pepsi, Wal-Mart, Craig Opperman, Jeff Coleman, BJ Coleman, Lawrence Wooten, Jr., Lawrence Wooten, Sr., Jason Meeker, Tom Book, Harry Cassidy, Doug Riley Equipment Sales, Boone Coleman Construction, Solid Rock Construction, The Racquet Club, The Royal Motel, Hileman Farms, Life Ambulance, John Clayton, Frank Lewis and Ryan Scott Ottney of the Portsmouth Times, Dave McGraw, Jr., Dave McGraw Sr., Tom Lindsey, Tom Berry, Doug Coleman, Wes Cassidy, Portsmouth City Service Department, Kelsey Messer of Portsmouth West and the other River Days Contestants and Stan Jennings at the Scioto County Joint Vocational School.

It was a giant undertaking to bring back the Derby after its 27 year absence. The 18 racers had a great experience and Josh Berry will represent the Portsmouth Area July 25th in Akron. Work for next year’s derby on June 5, 2010, is already under way. Thanks again for everyone’s support.

Gene Arms, Race Director

Civic Forum

Health threat of nuclear plant should be studied

A coalition of three large corporations has just announced plans to build a new nuclear power reactor at the Portsmouth site in Piketon.

The Portsmouth site has been, and still is, a big mess. Nearly 50 years of enriching uranium for nuclear weapons and reactors left a sad legacy of contamination at the site, which will probably take at least 40 years and billions of federal dollars to clear. A new plant that converts depleted uranium hexafluoride set to open at Portsmouth next year will only add to the contamination.

Building a new reactor at the site would expose construction workers and reactor workers to contamination that now exists at the site. Nuclear plants also harm local residents. In the 1950s and 1960s, when Portsmouth first operated, the cancer death rate in Pike County was 12 percent below the U.S. rate. But in this decade, the rate is now 7 percent above the U.S. This reversal could be due to exposure to the harmful chemicals produced at Portsmouth.

Nuclear power reactors have been promoted by their supporters as “clean energy” since they don’t release greenhouse gases. But they’re far from clean. Reactors create over 100 radioactive chemicals – the same chemicals in atomic bomb fallout. These toxins, which include Strontium-90, Iodine-131, and Cesium-137, enter the body through breathing and the food chain, and cause cancer.

A reactor meltdown – from an accident such as Chernobyl or a terrorist attack – would be catastrophic. Huge amounts of deadly radiation would be released into the air, and local residents could not be evacuated safely. Hundreds of thousands would be stricken with radiation poisoning or cancer. Even cities such as Cincinnati and Columbus, both 70 miles from Portsmouth, would be affected.

Along with a meltdown, reactors routinely emit a portion of these chemicals into the air and water. Even though these are relatively small amounts, experts agree there is no safe level of radiation exposure, especially to infants and children.

The drive for more nuclear power ignores the fact that safe and renewable forms of electricity are available. Wind, solar, geothermal power can be produced forever, whereas nuclear power (which uses uranium) will run out eventually. More importantly, they create no harmful chemicals that cause harm in humans.

The lessons of the past 50 years should be more than enough for people to oppose the plan for a new nuclear reactor at Portsmouth, and to support more vigorous development of safe, renewable energy.

Joseph J. Mangano MPH MBA

Executive Director of the Radiation and Public Health Project

New York