Research nuclear energy issue yourself before forming opinion

Editor,

I appreciate the Daily Lobo for covering an issue that reflects New Mexico's involvement in alternative energy. I believe everyone should research the issue of nuclear energy independently and draw their own conclusions, but I would like to submit some information for the readers' review.

Bob Anderson's comment on Thursday about nuclear energy not being safe should be further examined. No industry is exempt from accidents, fatal or otherwise, and the nuclear industry is no different. However, when compared to other industries such as coal mining and refinement, the accident rates in the nuclear field pale in comparison. Kevin McMahon made a good comparison of the dose received by the Three Mile Island community, likening it to dental X-rays. The average dose received by that community was 1 millirem (U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission). Compare this to the 330-350 millirems per year of background radiation received by an average Albuquerque resident. This dosage rate was published by a former UNM professor, Douglas Brookins, in background radiation in the Albuquerque area. You can find his article in the January 1992 issue of Environmental Geology. If you're curious about how much radiation you're receiving, I urge you to go to the American Nuclear Society's Web site and look at their radiation dose chart.

While some of my support for nuclear energy comes from statistics such as these, I've also worked in three facilities that handle nuclear sources. I've worked with radioactive materials at the Los Alamos National Laboratory as well as at the Brookhaven National Laboratory. From these experiences, I can firsthand attest that the regulations and safety procedures at these laboratories are very encompassing, and as a worker, I felt that I was in a safe environment. The third facility at which I was employed was the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in Carlsbad, which was mentioned by Arman Salehian in Thursday's article. WIPP functions to store some of the nuclear waste generated by government facilities around the nation and has been doing so for the last 10 years. While Anderson may believe that this is a hazard to New Mexico as well as the surrounding community, I'll have to disagree. In this instance I'll side with the independent laboratories that analyze the environmental samples collected at a 60-mile radius around the WIPP site. Those laboratories have found no increase in radiation in the area.

From my perspective, WIPP has safely provided jobs to many of my friends and family members. Also, WIPP gives presentations to the schools in Carlsbad, educating them about nuclear energy. I can credit those individuals for originally inspiring me to pursue studies in the field of science. Personal sentiments aside, I would just like to convince people that there is a wealth of information that supports the issue of nuclear energy. Take a small amount of time out of your day and research the issue yourself, rather than relying on Thursday's article or my own.

Jason Dugger

UNM student