Clinch River: a Breeder for Baker

In a lean federal budget, pork-barrel politics as usual

Ronald Reagan was elected as a fierce penny pincher, and the budget thundering toward final passage by both houses is full of pared-down appropriations. But tucked amid all the austerity is $228 million to begin construction of an experimental nuclear power plant on the Clinch River in eastern Tennessee. Since 1970 the Government has invested more than $1 billion in the project, and the plant is seen by its backers as central to American nuclear development. The President is a strong supporter of nuclear power,...