Welcome to New Blog: Atoms for California

 Another Local Pro-Nuclear Blogger!

Welcome to the blog Atoms for California!

Okay, Meredith, I can just hear my readers say---California is not "local" to Vermont.   What are you talking about with "another local pro-nuclear blogger"?

California is indeed across the country from Vermont, but I want to welcome another locally-focused blog.  Every pro-nuclear blogger has his or her own area of interest and expertise--our blogs are not interchangeable. My blog list includes an amazing group of powerful pro-nuclear voices.  We need all these voices.

That said, I believe that locally-focused blogs can be particularly strong and effective. Local people know the history, background, issues, and chief players of their own locality.  For example, I am authoritative about what happens (and is likely to happen) at the Statehouse in Montpelier.  It would be hard for me to know very much about which type of reactor the Czech Republic is most likely to buy.

Atoms for California

Atoms for California is very impressive pro-nuclear blog, written by a man who truly knows the situation in California.  In the Author Disclaimer section of the blog, we learn that the blog author's father works as a senior nuclear engineer at San Onofre, and he himself works for the California Energy Commission.  The blogger makes it very clear that this is his personal blog, and has nothing to do with the Commission.

The Table of Contents provides a wealth of material, including a history of the Electric Program Investment Plan (EPIC) in California.   The "Objectives of this site" page is not a quick mission statement, but a nine-point program with statements such as Challenging the exclusion of nuclear power from California’s Loading Order.

This is a blog to read!

Advantages of Local Blogging

Local bloggers can grow local followings. Local bloggers can be well-enough known to be interviewed repeatedly by the local press.  I have often thought that every locality with a nuclear facility needs a local pro-nuclear blogger.  Every such locality has at least one anti-nuclear group with a web presence.  The reporters know where to find the anti-nuclear quotes.  We need to give the reporters a place to find the pro-nuclear quotes.

(The facilities themselves are like any big business--the press releases go through a LOT of review.  Which means the press releases are often dry, evasive and late to the party.  Bloggers have more fun, are usually more readable, and can give reporters a straight story in snappy sound bites.)

So--hats off to the local pro-nuclear bloggers! Hats off to Atoms for California,  Steve Aplin at Canadian Energy Issues, and Ben Heard at DecarboniseSA.  These blogs are not strictly local--after all the world is interconnected.  But they start with their local issues, and they have powerful local impacts. 

Think globally, act locally.  I hope more people will start blogging.

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Update: I rearranged this post a little in order to do a better job of featuring the Atoms for California blog.

And a hat-tip to Rod Adams for his welcome to Atoms for California. Rod got his post up first, as he often does.

I don't know where any of us pro-nuclear bloggers would be without Rod!

Looking Forward for Nuclear, Vermont and Australia

Looking Forward, in Vermont

In recent days, some of my friends have asked me: "What are you going to do with yourself, Meredith, now that Vermont Yankee will close?"

I don't have a complete answer to that question.  There are still a lot of issues about nuclear energy in Vermont, and I will be involved in these issues and controversies.  On the other hand, resolving all these issues in the best possible way--will still not keep the plant open. Whatever I do, Vermont Yankee will still close.  Therefore, some of my motivation is definitely gone.  I am still looking for the best way forward.

For a more positive view of how we will keep working in favor of nuclear energy, please read Howard Shaffer's excellent post at ANS Nuclear Cafe.  Vermont Yankee closure announced-- There is work yet to be done. The opponents are still active, and they are still hurting nuclear energy as it goes forward. We must answer them. (Shaffer's post is also at The Energy Collective.)

Meanwhile, Andrew Stein at Vermont Digger has an article on the four, count'em, FOUR, legal issues about Vermont Yankee that are still active. As Stein writes:  Entergy may be closing Vermont Yankee, but litigation goes on.

Howard Shaffer is correct. There is still a lot to do.

Looking Forward, In Australia

For a cheerful Friday, I want to share a video from Australia about nuclear advocacy.  This video is by Ben Heard of ThinkClimate Consulting and DecarboniseSA (De-Carbonize South Australia).

This video truly shows a way to move forward.  I am happy to share it with you.

A little about the video: 

In late August, Ben Heard and I took part in one of Rod Adams excellent Atomic Show podcasts: Stomping Scare Stories. A few weeks before the podcast, Heard had made a presentation at a conference called Nuclear Power for Australia? His presentation was Gaining Community Support for the Nuclear Option.  As Heard describes in his blog-post, Andy Jaremko of Calgary made this excellent video of his presentation. 

MICHAEL Angwin wins a Nuclear Debate

The Debate

Rod Adams posted yesterday about a debate in Australia: Winning a debate in Sydney--We have seen the future and it's nuclear

It's an excellent debate, and here's a direct link to the debate, on ABC TV in Australia. It's part of a Big Ideas series of debates.  Below is a wonderful ten minute video clip of Ben Heard's introductory remarks on the debate, explaining why he changed from being opposed to nuclear energy to being very much in favor of it.




However, what really caught my attention on this debate was the name of one of the debaters.  Here's a quote from Rod's post:

"The (debate) host declared that Ben Heard, Michael Angwin, and Professor Daniela Stehlik had won a resounding victory on the question of the night and that the audience now agreed that the future of energy is nuclear."

Anybody notice the part of the sentence that caught my eye? (Emphasis added by blogger, to give you a clue...)

Michael Angwin

Angwin is not a common name, and I was amazed to see an Angwin as a pro-nuclear debater in Australia. I immediately contacted Barry Brook, who holds a Chair in Climate Change at the University of Adelaide and blogs at Brave New Climate.  Since both Brook and Angwin are in Australia, and I know Brook, I hoped for an email introduction to Michael. I received one.  (Thank you, Barry!) Michael Angwin and I have now introduced ourselves to each other.

Michael Angwin is Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Uranium Association.  Australia mines and exports uranium, but only burns coal domestically. Various groups are trying to move Australia away from coal-burning.  One such organization is  Decarbonize South Australia   Here's a four-minute clip of an interview with Michael Angwin, in which he speaks of the need to listen and reassure people, as well as share the facts.  I agree.

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The Angwins

Every Angwin I have ever met can trace his or her roots back to the mining area of St. Just, Cornwall.  Michael Angwin and my husband George Angwin can certainly trace their roots to that area.  In George's case, his "roots in Cornwall" were his grandparents who emigrated to the United States.  Michael's ancestors left Cornwall about fifty years earlier than George's grandparents did.

As I have mentioned on occasion, George's father started his working life as a miner.  He was a coal miner near Scranton, PA. (He was holding other jobs by the time George was born.)  I am a coal miner's daughter-in-law,though  that phrase doesn't have the same ring to it as some other phrases.

It's unusual for me to encounter another Angwin, and completely astounding to encounter another Angwin who is an active pro-nuclear debater!

Conspiracy theories?

I wonder when our local nuclear opponents will claim there is an international conspiracy of Angwins to promote nuclear energy?  That this conspiracy started in Cornwall and now covers the world?  Well, they probably won't say this.  It would be funny if they did, though.

Post Script: A note about Ben Heard's video clip

In the video clip at the beginning of this post, Ben Heard describes how he moved from being anti-nuclear  to being pro-nuclear.  He calls his earlier attitude a"phobia."

In my opinion, it is younger people, such as Heard, who are more likely to make this transition. Younger people "get" climate change and fossil pollution, while older people have often moved from "ban the bomb" to "shut down the plants" and they aren't moving any further.

This is just my opinion, you understand.  However, I have noticed that Facebook tells me the ages of the followers of the Save Vermont Yankee Facebook Page, and the biggest age group of followers is 25 to 34.  Contrast this with the older women who constantly get arrested at Vermont Yankee.  Okay, this is limited evidence, for sure.  But I'm a blogger. I can occasionally share an overgeneralized opinion, or why have a blog?