Let’s Hear It for Modern-Day Infrastructure

* The March 28 article about decommissioning Southern California Edison Co.’s San Onofre Unit I reactor provided an outstanding public service.

The writers and graphic artists are to be commended for their work in making reasonably comprehensible to us laymen the extremely complex task of disassembling the enormous nuclear reactor and its huge array of components.

The good life enjoyed by most of us is made possible to a large extent by a vast labyrinth of incredibly complex but highly reliable systems, sometimes vaguely characterized as “the infrastructure,” but which is little understood by most of us.

They include the supply and distribution of water, electricity, natural gas and other fuels. And there is flood control, sewage disposal, the communications networks, transportation by highway, rail, sea and air and much more.

We’re inclined to get “shook’ when there is even the briefest interruption of any of these wonderful systems, but I’m inclined to be grateful for how dependable they are. And I appreciate the people who design, build and operate them.

FRANKLIN W. DUNLAP

Laguna Hills

* Someday our descendants will laugh at our fear of technology, our losing interest in space exploration, our rushing to tear down nuclear power plants.

In the case of Unit I, decommissioning is indeed necessary. Its age and design have made it a money pit, and the quoted $100-million repair price tag would be only the tip of the iceberg. So it does have to go--but only for sound economic reasons.

The designers, builders and operators should be proud of their work. The real shame on our generation is that we are leaving our children with an antiquated, polluting, fossil fuel-driven power grid, which must at some point be replaced.

I hope alternative power sources will play a big role, but in all likelihood nuclear power will be “rediscovered.”

STU O’GUINN

Huntington Beach