"Nuke energy must be part of U.S. Plan," a May 22 My View by Donald J. Dudziak, states that "Our political leaders from President Barack Obama on down have said nuclear energy must be part of a balanced mix."

Considering that the half-life of the core of these monster polluters can be a dire threat to life for more than 80 billion years, it seems extremely arrogant and blind-sighted to even consider this toxic component in satisfying our electrical needs. Consider also that computers, giant TVs, lights and communication gadgets, weapons plants, surveillance products, and home appliances will put at risk more than 3,000 generations who live near toxic dumps or neglected nuclear power plants.

Can you imagine the transfer of this toxic knowledge being distributed with every birth certificate from here to eternity, in every country on the Earth into the future, just for our convenience in 2011? Scientists and politicians have fallen into a rut of lazy, most greedy and unscientific thinking, totally irresponsible and haphazard in its use.

White Rock Canyon hasn't been cleaned up since 1945! Wouldn't it be intelligent to clean up Los Alamos to its pre-1945 condition before polluting the rest of the world's environment?

It is time to kill nuclear energy. There are more than 11 nuclear power plants in the U.S. with the exact design of those in Japan. Look on the Internet at the cluster along the fault lines that lead through the United States.

Corporate power and political power shook hands in producing all the unscientific propaganda they need to sell this technology past its experimental lifetime. Radiation kills life for a very, very, very long time. Until Los Alamos can spend its self-proclaimed brilliance in cleanup first, it does not deserve to profit from more toxic dumps, depleted uranium bombs dropped during our illegal wars, shipments of toxic waste to "developing countries" for a price and all the other horrendously cynical, tricky ways of disposal.

Being a politician or having a Ph.D. doesn't mean anything, except that we are able to see how bad decisions hide behind power and flimsy degrees of education. Show me real credentials, those of people who think beyond our own short lifetimes. Can we even imagine the "real" contribution Los Alamos could make in finding a way to clean up what it started in 1945?

Sally Blakemore is owner and creative director of Arty Projects Studio, Ltd., a novelty book and product packaging studio in Santa Fe.