Letters to the Editor | Oct. 13, 2024

In Jane Fonda’s commentary regarding nuclear power, the subhead includes the question, “Why would anyone tempt fate by reactivating a facility that suffered the worst nuclear accident in U.S. history?” Fonda argues that “with climate change, we don’t have the kind of time needed to get a nuclear plant licensed, built, and supplying power to the grid.” As if competent governance could not solve the problem.

Licensing power plants (with all the accompanying necessary regulations) is a governmental function. If we were able to locate leadership with the vision and ability to define the problem and devise and implement a solution, it would be possible to mobilize public opinion behind the effort. Power plants could be built far more quickly than we could build and install enough windmills and solar panels to supply our nation’s energy needs. We need to do the research necessary to relieve us of the burden of fossil fuels without causing people to starve, freeze, or burn.

That will take time, and we need a bridge to give us that time. Perhaps natural gas can provide that bridge. While the hazards of natural disasters and the difficulty disposing of used nuclear fuel rods are significant complications, they are not beyond solution. What we need is national leadership that is willing and capable.

Bernard D. Shapiro, Voorhees

The Sixers got a tour of a proposed arena location in Camden. Good. Now we should be able to compare the proposed Center City site with the one in New Jersey. We have so many questions: Is the N.J. site near mass transit? Will there be easy access to highways? Will it gridlock roads in downtown Camden? Will it have ample parking space for people who drive? What are the adjacent neighborhoods like? Is the site currently empty, and if not, what will have to be demolished for the stadium? Will properties adjacent to the site have to be demolished? The only thing the article told me was that the site is on the waterfront. The site tour was intended to be closed to the media, but an investigation could have answered some of these questions. Instead, the article was just a rehash of the issues with the Center City site.

Steven B. Erisoty, Philadelphia

With the release of Bob Woodward’s new book, it was revealed that Donald Trump shipped COVID-19 test machines to Vladimir Putin. Livid doesn’t even begin to cover the reaction of physicians, nurses, and health-care workers who were on the front lines during the pandemic. We remember the refrigerated trucks serving as makeshift morgues parked outside our hospitals. We remember we had to use garbage bags as a substitute for gowns. We remember we had to reuse gloves. We remember having to sew cloth masks because of the shortage. We remember living away from our families for weeks on end so as not to risk infecting them. And we definitely remember, at the height of the pandemic, the nationwide scarcity of COVID tests, making it difficult to accurately diagnose and care for our patients. By providing supplies critical to saving American lives to an adversary, Trump shows us his true allegiance. It is not the United States of America.

Teri Mills, Nurses for America, Tualatin, Ore., and Ezekiel Tayler, Doctors for Harris, Wynnewood

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