April 3, 1979

Harold R Denton of Nuclear Regulatory Comm says gas bubble that has slowed cooling of crippled reactor has been reduced to about 50 cu ft from the 1,000 cu ft it was last wk; says complete 'cooldown' is is still days away; says radiation levels in containment vessel are 50 times the lethal dose; says dealing with massive amount of radioactive debris inside containment vessel could require mos of efforts; radioactive gases such as xenon and krypton, plus steam-borne radioactive solids like iodine 131, are detected northeast of plant; Civil Defense and public health officials extend warnings to pregnant women and small children to stay clear of vicinity; Roger Mattson, Denton's deputy, raises possibility of negligence on part of plant operators, employees of Met Edison Co; Gov Dick Thornburgh says he will hold ready resources necessary for evacuation; Civil Defense survey finds that as many as 100,000 people in area stayed home from work on Apr 2; Denton por; illus (M)

Nuclear Regulatory Comm signs agreement with Ohio utility that its reactor, quite similar to 3 Mile Island facility in Pa, will not be returned to service without knowledge and consent of Govt; dispatches special inspectors to each of reactors made by Babcock & Wilcox to help operators identify possible problems and provide immediate advice on how to avoid accidents; Pres Carter orders Fed inquiry to all aspects of accident at 3 Mile Island; Sen Richard S Schweiker urges complete investigation; Robert Pollard (Union of Concerned Scientists) recommends immediate shutdown of all Babcock & Wilcox plants unless operators can provide convincing evidence that gen problems have been corrected; Babcock & Wilcox reactors, according to comm records, have apparently been plagued by considerable number of deficiencies in last few yrs; problems at plants owned by Ark Power & Light and Toledo Edison and at Rancho Seco plant in Calif noted; illus (M)

repts indicate that there is broad compliance with lockout called by trucking indus leaders in response to selective strike by Teamsters union; auto mfrs start to lay off some workers because of expected shortages of parts; some steel haulers are shut down and other industries say they will run out of supplies soon; Trucking Mgt Inc says 'virtually 100%' of group's membership is participating in shutdown; ICC says truck traffic has slowed considerably; Govt officials say it will be several days before they can assess impact of lockout; key unanswered question, raised by Labor Sec Ray Marshall, is whether dispute constitutes danger to natl health and safety; Teamsters Pres Frank E Fitzsimmons says selective strike that union called against 73 cos is designed to avoid Taft-Hartly injunction by Fed Govt; Trucking Mgt repr J Curtis Counts comments (M)

relatively minor repair of less than 1 mile of Bklyn-Queens Expressway has turned into major confrontation between NYC and NYS officials and community groups in Carroll Gardens and Cobble Hill secs of Bklyn who want stretch of expressway completely relocated; estimated cost of repairs has risen in 18 mos from $2 million to almost $7 million as officials have tried to make reconstruction acceptable to community; Assemblyman Michael L Pesce and NYS Transportation Dept official George Zaimes comment; illus; map (M)

Pres Carter will reptdly propose tax on domestic oil that could produce $3 billion to $5 billion a yr in Fed revenues, which would be used in part to develop nonconventional energy resouces (S)