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Editor: 

Now, folks, it’s official -- “Nuclear Sites Called Permanently Unsafe” (NY Times, August 8). The Times further states “contamination is spreading.” The piano players in the nuclear whorehouse, the Department of Energy at UC Berkeley, have had their sheet music pulled. 

Many of us have pointed this out over the years, the most recent being the Planet’s report on Fredrica Drotos’ storming out on another unproductive session by the Rad Lab. 

On this business of nuclear sites being “permanently unsafe,” I had an experience last year that underscores this point. My path crossed a scientist who works in Silicon Valley, and this is what he told me: He had just come back from vacation when he found he was slightly radioactive. Everytime he passed from one station to another, the control beam started flashing. So they called him in to find out what was going on.  

“Where did you go for your vacation?” 

“Northern Canada on an elk-hunting trip.” 

“Did you eat any of the elk meat?” 

“Yes sir.” 

That did it. The elk were radioactive from eating the grass and shrubs in the fallout area of the atmospheric A-Bombs exploded during the cold war 30 years ago. The fallout was still in the grass, and it was still in him. 

George Kauffman 

Berkeley