Letter to the editor
Your editorial "Biden's Green-Energy Price Shock" (April 12) is correct in pointing out the monumental costs and fallacies of the Biden administration's green agenda. A critical element, however, is missing: the need for nuclear power to supplant the emphasis on renewables, so many aspects of which are unworkable that they make conventional green aspirations a fantasy.
On these pages in 2021 ("Nuclear Power Is the Best Climate-Change Solution by Far," op-ed, Nov. 5, 2021), we described the factors that make an intense focus on a rapid expansion of nuclear facilities, especially small modular reactors, a plausible solution to climate warming. As we wrote then, "Microreactors could generate between 1 and 20 megawatts of power (enough to provide electricity to 500 to 20,000 homes) while needing to refuel only once every five to 10 years. They are air-cooled, capable of being shut down rapidly with no risk of radioactive release and occupy small spaces." Many designs are intended to be produced on assembly-line construction facilities and to be swapped out for refueling rather than taking risks on-site.
We need to stop wasting trillions of dollars on ineffective strategies that punish U.S. citizens and businesses while countries like China and India increase their greenhouse-gas emissions. The U.S. could set an example for the world with the ultimate infrastructure project: building and deploying advanced nuclear power plants that painlessly accelerate our decarbonization. Sacrifice isn't always the path to progress.
Andrew I. Fillat and Henry I. Miller
Wellesley, Mass., and Redwood City, Calif.