Letters: The Tribune Editorial Board is right to be skeptical of small modular reactor projects

Chicago Tribune

22-04-2025

If Gov. JB Pritzker has opened the door to small modular reactors (SMRs), then it's time to push for the big old-fashioned kind — that seems to be the opening 'give an inch, take a mile' gambit of the editorial 'It's time to lift Illinois' moratorium on new nuclear plants' (April 15).
But good for the Tribune Editorial Board for being skeptical about SMRs: It's right to be skeptical about the economic advantage, given that there aren't any certified designs, and projects continue to be delayed or canceled.
And good for the board, even as it supports new 'baseload' reactors, for warning readers about how ratepayers have been stuck with huge bills elsewhere and in Illinois for predictable delays and cost overruns.
The board is right to point out the years it will take for approval and actual construction. And that acknowledgement is testament to the board's honesty, compared to most nuclear boosters: If climate change were really the major driver here, then too many nuclear power plants need to be built too quickly to have an impact.
By the way, when the editorial board says 'nukes don't emit carbon,' it does need to qualify that the only part of nuclear power generation that's carbon-free is the atom-splitting, energy-generating part, since every other aspect, from the mining, processing and transport of nuclear fuel and the construction of plants, to the decommissioning and management of waste, results in carbon dioxide emissions.
The board doesn't mention that we have yet to figure out a way to deal with that waste, some of which will remain toxic for many lifetimes. The board doesn't have to refer to health problems at all, in fact. Look at the International Nuclear Workers Study of nearly 310,00 workers from the United Kingdom, France and the U.S. that shows a clear association between low-level radiation exposure and solid cancer mortality.
You don't need reactors to blow up for there to be a negative health impact, not just for workers but also those in the neighborhood.
Finally, look at the stunning advances in renewal technology. A great place to start is the work of Mark Z. Jacobson, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University. His 2023 book title says it all: 'No Miracles Needed: How Today's Technology Can Save Our Climate and Clean Our Air.'
— Norma Field, Chicago
Battle over energy
I fully agree with the headline on the nuclear power editorial, but the narrative falls flat on the topic of cost.
Yes, cost overruns are a significant concern in any large-scale project. But the main way to control cost is by repetition and learning. The U.S., including Illinois, has allowed our energy infrastructure to atrophy. Rebuilding and repowering our economy will require significant investments that cannot be accurately estimated. Since we caused these problems, we will all need to pay to fix them.
The editorial insists that ratepayers shouldn't have to pay for cost overruns. But then who should pay? Everyone benefits from a strong, reliable energy grid. The Tribune Editorial Board suggests that 'Facebook owner Meta or Google or some other tech giant' should have to pay. With that attitude, they will build elsewhere, and the state will suffer. Then the question becomes: How much will ratepayers be willing to pay to avoid brownouts and blackouts such as those in California, where rates are already double or triple what we pay in Illinois.
The Illinois Tollway is nearing the end of a 16-year, $15 billion program to rebuild major elements of the tollway system. Building a nuclear power plant is a similar-scale effort, but we have lost experience. There is one major difference, however: A power plant will last well into the next century, whereas the tollway will probably be rebuilt several times.
Illinois will need to establish favorable investment environments for mega-projects if we want Big Tech business (and the energy demands they bring) to bolster our economy and create jobs and tax revenue. That battle between states is already brewing.
Economic growth is skyrocketing in Georgia and Texas because they are making those tough investments. The winners will be the ones that are willing to take the risk and build the necessary infrastructure.
Right now, Illinois is losing.
— Thomas Fanning, Naperville
CPD needs to dig in
Chicago police Superintendent Larry Snelling's public victory lap over a recent report by the Chicago Police Department consent decree monitor falls a bit flat under closer examination ('CPD praised on meeting goals of consent decree,' April 16). The reality is that CPD has come into compliance with only 16% of the decree's requirements after six years of oversight. And most of that compliance consists of writing policies and filling out forms. The real work to change CPD's historic culture of brutality and discrimination has hardly begun.
Particularly vexing is Snelling's suggestion — offered without evidence — that an increase in reported use of force by CPD officers is not an increase at all and just represents an increase in reporting by officers when they use force. If that's true, CPD needs to prove it.
We are skeptical because community members continue to report excessive force by officers, and data shows trends going in the wrong direction. For instance, after a decrease from 2020 to 2023, CPD shootings of community members jumped in 2024 and are on track to increase further in 2025. Between the first half of 2023 and the first half of 2024, total recorded uses of force increased a whopping 47%.
The frustrating truth is that people in Chicago still do not feel the benefits of the progress CPD has accomplished under the consent decree. Black residents of Chicago continue to make up about 2 in every 3 investigatory stops, and Black residents make up about 70% of those subjected to use of force by officers (they are about one-third of the city's population). These numbers have remained stubbornly consistent since the consent decree went into effect.
It is long past time for CPD to stop celebrating paper accomplishments and work to achieve the ultimate goals of the consent decree: decreased harm to people who are Black, brown and disabled and increased trust by the community. We agree with Snelling that it has taken too long, and it is time now to dig in — for real.
— Alexandra Block, director, Criminal Legal System and Policing Project, ACLU of Illinois
Using Jewish fear
We write on behalf of more than 100 rabbis and clergy from across Chicagoland. The congregations we serve and communities we support are politically, racially and economically diverse, and they represent multiple denominations of Jewish practice. We stand against the attacks on civil liberties and democratic norms being carried out in the name of combating antisemitism.
In recent weeks, students and others, many with legal status, have been detained or had their visas revoked without explanation or due process, including at the University of Illinois, University of Chicago and Northwestern University. Federal funds for higher education have been frozen or withdrawn, including $790 million at Northwestern. The administration has also announced plans to surveil immigrants' social media.
Many of these actions have been presented as a defense of the Jewish community. Yet in truth, Jewish fear is being used as a fig leaf for an anti-democratic agenda of mass deportations, civil rights rollbacks and attacks on higher education.
We know that many Jews, including Jewish students on campuses, have felt unsafe in recent months and years. We take those concerns seriously. And we know that throughout history, Jews have been safest in multiracial democracies where the rights of all people, regardless of race, religion, national origin or political opinion, are protected.
Education is a core Jewish value, and the institutions that uphold civil liberties and democratic norms have long been essential to Jewish safety and flourishing. As Jewish leaders, we reject the exploitation of our fears and experiences of antisemitism to justify the dismantling of those institutions. Such actions do not protect our community — they use us, and they put us in danger.
We just celebrated the Jewish holiday of Passover. Each year, we recall the oppression of our ancestors in Egypt and pray for redemption from all forms of violence. We are commanded to retell our stories of persecution and deliverance 'in every generation,' reminding us that our story remains relevant at all times.
In the Passover story, it is an erev rav — a mixed multitude — who journeyed together out of Egypt. We are obligated not only to seek justice for ourselves, but also to protect the rights and freedoms afforded to all people. We must speak out against deportations without due process, suppression of free speech, attacks on higher education and the dismantling of democratic norms. Doing so is an expression of our Jewish and American values.