Letters to the editor

I must take issue with several statements in your March 1976, editorial. It does not follow that because I advocate the development of nuclear power that I am an advocate of the arms race, nor that I advocate wasteful consumption. I believe that the mining of uranium ore and the ultimate disposal of radioactive wastes imposes less of an exploitive burden on the earth than the available practical option, which is the consumption of fossil fuels. I most resent the statement, "… nuclear power proponents unquestioningly and without discussion assume…" I personally find the evidence that electric energy consumption will increase to be persuasive. I did not arrive at that conclusion without question or discussion, and I cannot believe that the thousands of engineers who share my view are the naive, sophomoric technologists your statement implies.