Nuclear still has risks

Plutonium 239 – a manmade element named for Pluto, the Roman god of Hell – remains lethal beyond its half-life of 24,000 years. A single particle in body tissue will cause cancer, and its genetic damage goes on through time.

Nuclear reactors that breed this element are tempting as they use nuclear waste (which we still don’t know how to safely dispose of) to make plutonium.

I am concerned that small nuclear breeder reactors – cooled with liquid sodium – are being touted over wind and solar. I would like to see a moon shot type effort toward cleaner energies. Besides the dangers inherent in nuclear energy, it is too expensive and time consuming.

The link between nuclear power and nuclear weapons is inextricable. Meanwhile, Los Alamos, N.M., has restarted its “bomb pit” production.

The New Mexico downwinders hurt by the Trinity detonation (the first tested nuclear bomb) in 1945 have not been adequately compensated or fully recognized. This plutonium bomb was detonated near ground level while one like it was detonated thousands of feet above Nagasaki, Japan, at the end of WWII. 

We bombed ourselves with disastrous effects. After the war, we began testing uranium bombs at the Nevada test site. Nearly 100 were exploded in the atmosphere.

We are at an important turning point. I pray we make the right decisions.

– Beth Suttle Estelle, Durango