This is in response to the Jan. 12 editorial titled "Unproven accusations," which concerned radical environmentalists promoting a hidden socialist agenda, inhibiting nuclear power production.

I am a 10-year veteran of a Department of Energy uranium enrichment facility. I was contaminated due to DOE's failure to comply with its own operating standards.

While it is true that nuclear-powered electricity generation facilities have a good safety record and reduce greenhouse gases, the problem lies in the enrichment process that supplies fuel for electricity generating facilities.

For over 40 years, the Department of Energy was responsible for uranium enrichment facilities primarily located in less populated areas of the United States.

Last year, Energy Secretary Bill Richardson announced that for nearly 30 years the Department of Energy had smuggled transuranics, or reactor by-product materials, into these facilities without the employees' knowledge.

This material contained plutonium and other elements that have a half-life of over 24,000 years and are highly toxic to all forms of life. The House and Senate passed precedent-setting bipartisan legislation concerning compensation for nuclear workers, and the Clinton administration proposed expanding the program.

I witnessed firsthand the deaths and illnesses of employees who served their country in these facilities. Our own government's legacy of lies killed my friends and contaminated the environment.

I have spent over 11 years in litigation. I have had 12 tumors removed and endured several hospitalizations. Subsequently, I suffer from lifelong illnesses that not only affect my health but also my ability to support my family.

So the editorial writer's statement that "nuclear plants have the lowest production cost of any major reliable electricity course" does not take into account the loss of life and the fact that the Department of Energy will spend over $22 billion to clean up these nuclear sites across the country in the next few years.

MICHAEL H. TULLOH

Fernandina Beach