American Scientist

To the Editors:

I enjoyed your most recent issue on “The Future of Water” (September–October). However, I was disappointed in one aspect of the article “Sustaining the Last Rivers,” by Jeffrey J. Opperman and his colleagues.

The authors went into detail about energy alternatives to hydropower from dams, such as solar and wind generation, but neglected to include nuclear power as a carbon-free source of energy. Were the authors not familiar with the newer, advanced-generation types of nuclear reactors, which avoid the problems of the original types of nuclear power plants and emit no carbon dioxide once they have been constructed?

J. David Yount
Duluth, MN

Editors’ Note: For additional discussion about the role of nuclear energy in power production, see our video interview with M. V. Ramana, “After Fukushima: Nuclear Power Programs Around the World,” on our From the Staff blog. An excerpt from that interview is in the January–February 2017 issue of the magazine.