{"id":1409,"date":"2025-10-20T18:40:48","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T18:40:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/audiomateria.com\/?p=1409"},"modified":"2025-10-24T19:16:51","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T19:16:51","slug":"colorado-needs-nuclear-energy-to-address-emissions-cost-effectively-letters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/audiomateria.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/20\/colorado-needs-nuclear-energy-to-address-emissions-cost-effectively-letters\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado needs nuclear energy to address emissions cost-effectively (Letters)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Colorado needs nuclear energy to address emissions cost-effectively<\/h4>\n

Re: “Is nuclear power becoming cool in Colorado?<\/a>” Oct. 13 news story<\/p>\n

Judith Kohler\u2019s October 13 article, \u201cIs nuclear power becoming cool in Colorado?\u201d highlights an important moment for our state. As Colorado transitions away from coal, it\u2019s time to recognize that nuclear power is essential to providing clean, 24\/7, reliable and affordable power to our state.<\/p>\n

Small modular reactors (SMRs) now under review by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) use passive safety systems that can cool themselves without human intervention or external power, making them safer. Their compact, factory-built design shortens construction times, limits financing risk, and lowers overall costs — the very issues that plagued earlier plants like Fort St. Vrain.<\/p>\n

While wind and solar should be a part of the clean energy mix, we need to be careful about becoming like California, which currently generates 57% from renewables, but has energy prices 40-50% above the national average, and still must import 20-30% of its power from neighboring states.<\/p>\n

Contrary to Dennis Wamsted\u2019s assertions in the article, advanced nuclear energy is no longer \u201con paper.\u201d Both China and Russia have operating SMRs and more in the pipeline. The NRC has formally licensed two of NuScale\u2019s designs, and is reviewing a number of others on an expedited timeline. TerraPower (led by Bill Gates) has broken ground on an SMR in Wyoming and is exploring additional sites in Utah. Kairos has started construction on a reactor in Tennessee. This is all happening now, and Colorado should be a part of this next generation of nuclear energy.<\/p>\n

Melinda Alankar, Littleton<\/em><\/p>\n

Publicly funded schools cannot be religious-based<\/h4>\n

Taxpayers in Pueblo’s School District 49, and across Colorado, should be alarmed by the newly announced partnership between an Education ReEnvisioned Board of Cooperative Educational Services and Riverstone Academy, which proudly identifies itself as Colorado\u2019s first \u201cChristian\u201d public elementary school.<\/p>\n

At first glance, the arrangement may sound like an innovative approach to education. But peel back the layers, and a far more troubling picture emerges. Public funds — your tax dollars \u2014 are now being funneled into a school that explicitly identifies with a religious denomination. That\u2019s not \u201cchoice.\u201d That\u2019s an erosion of the constitutional wall separating church and state \u2014 one that protects both religion and government from dangerous entanglement.<\/p>\n