I read the recent Ben Jealous column describing nuclear mishaps as “cataclysmic.” But are they really?
Injuries, illness and death from the incident at Fukushima are very low; same with Three Mile Island. Who knows about Chernobyl because of the ways in which the Soviets covered it up? But talk to the residents on Chicago’s South and West sides who for too long suffered under the noxious cloud of coal. If we had gone more nuclear, all the slow-burn illnesses and quality of life issues that plagued those areas for years could have long ago been solved. The damage is too broad and too slow to really tally, but that does not mean it did not happen. Meanwhile, we have had nuclear reactors running safely in this state for decades, without those deadly pollutants literally suffocating some of our most vulnerable residents.
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Battery backup for renewables? That requires lithium mining just as nuclear requires uranium mining. I am all for renewables, but there will need to be stopgaps, and nuclear —as opposed to fossil fuels — is the answer. We need to have a sensible nuclear energy policy, which entails building efficient, safe, and viable long-term nuclear plants. Not a “no-nuclear” policy based on scare tactics.
In point of fact, Illinois has more online reactors than any other state. But the plants are aging and newer plants are built to better standards. We should be encouraging their development — safely. Ignoring their need will only lead to more fossil fuel contingency plants.
Adam Price, Wheaton
Original Goodman Theatre was a work of art
Catey Sullivan’s characterization of the original Goodman Theatre building as “a subterranean space behind the Art Institute” (“Robert Falls leaves an indelible legacy at the Goodman Theatre as his final season ends,” June 8) does a disservice to one of the most beautiful theaters that ever stood in the United States.
The unique Beaux Arts design made the theater a work of art in itself, in a city that prides itself on its architecture. While the play-producing team rightfully needed a new, modern theater to take advantage of changes in technology and provide more comfort and space to staff, actors, and audiences, the old Goodman Theatre’s destruction by a so-called guardian of art, the Art Institute of Chicago, was a horrifying act of vandalism. I have boycotted the Art Institute ever since.
Marilyn Ferdinand, Skokie
