The Cleantech Bubble, Tesla Motors, Nuclear Industry Startups: Guest Post by Evan Twarog

Evan Twarog

The Energy Market

In 2013, more than $1.6 trillion was invested into global energy markets, a figure that has more than doubled since 2000, and one that will continue to grow well into the future. The global energy market is worth tens of trillions of dollars, and this marketplace has driven the growth of entire regions, including Northern Africa, the Middle East, and Russia.  In other words, the energy market is massive beyond comprehension.  For the aspiring entrepreneur, this amount of available money means one thing; a huge opportunity to build a company that dwarfs even Exxon Mobil.  If a company can capture just 1% of this market, the company will be worth over $100 billion.  This opportunity is what drew the attention of a herd of entrepreneurs in the mid-2000s.

At the start of the 21st century, seemingly everyone thought that clean energy would be the next big thing.  How could it not? Smog in Beijing was so bad that people couldn’t see from building to building.  The year of the hurricane, 2005, brought a record 28 hurricanes, 8 more than the next busiest season.  Humanity’s consumption habits had to change, and they had to change immediately.  It was going to be a generation of clean energy entrepreneurs that lead this wave of economic transformation.  No longer would we be reliant on evil oil companies, greedy lobbyists, or big finance.

This revolution never came though.  Wind power today, a full decade after the Green Tech Boom offered to change the world, meets less than 5% of total power consumption in the US.  Solar power meets less than 1% of our power needs.  Renewable energy advocates point to stunning growth rates, often nearing 100% for solar power, however fail to mention the percentage of total power generated by renewables.  What happened to this wave of change?

The Cleantech Bubble Bursts

In 2007, the Cleantech Bubble burst.  The Renewable Energy Industrial Fund, which peaked at over 2000 points, dropped to less than half of that in a year, and today rests at 528.93 points (as of April 30, 2015).  While conservatives will often argue that as soon as the government touched renewables with its subsidies, its failure was inevitable, there is a different explanation as to why cleantech blew up.  Many cleantech companies tried to be revolutionary companies that would take over the entire energy market, and turn into a multi-billion dollar company.  While the massive scale of the energy marketplace seemed to present a huge opportunity on the surface for entrepreneurs, the reality was that this created fierce competition.   While many companies tried to differentiate themselves from one another with “unique” approaches to producing solar panels or wind turbines, there were no exponential improvements in solar panel efficiency.  A solar panel from one company was virtually the a solar panel from a different company, only both were marketed as being revolutionary.  In reality, there was rarely a distinction from a CIGS Solar Panel and a Silicon Solar Panel from a market standpoint.  While this bust may seem like a creation of the oil industry, the failure comes back to a lack of distinction, and companies trying to go big and compete against much larger competitors.

This bubble is by no means the first time an industry has burst open.  The housing bubble of 2008 and the tech bubble of the early 2000s are the two examples that come to mind.  Even the South Sea Company experienced a massive financial bubble in 1720.  What makes the Cleantech Bubble unique is its connection to a social issue.  In building a cleantech company, entrepreneurs were taking on a problem facing humanity.  Environmentalists were thrilled by the industry’s growth, and the potential revolution even attracted the attention of the GOP, a party that has traditionally been skeptical of environmentalism.  The pressing nature of climate change undoubtedly pushed forward the inflation of the bubble.  The failure of the Cleantech Bubble was the biggest flop of “social entrepreneurship” in mankind’s history.

Tesla Motors Survives the Bubble

Out of this bubble, one of the survivors and winners that emerged was Tesla Motors.  Founded by a group of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs in 2003, Tesla aimed to create world class cars that were powered by electricity.  With each generation becoming increasingly affordable, the goal was to bring beautiful, powerful electric cars to the masses and prove that they could match and exceed its gasoline competitors.  Today, Tesla has a market capitalization of nearly $30 billion, and has sold tens of thousands of cars.

Tesla Motors ultimately emerged from the Cleantech Bubble for a number of reasons.  Perhaps the single greatest reason why Tesla succeeded is that Tesla took over a small market, and then expanded to include larger markets.  Initially targeting the high-end, luxury electric car market with its Roadster, it was able to capture a monopoly over the industry before expanding into larger markets.  The Roadster provided the needed capital and reputation necessary to fund the R&D to design and built the less expensive Model S.  Now it’s in a prime position to expand into even broader markets.

One of the key features of any Tesla product is its outstanding performance and beauty.  Its Model S has the highest safety rating a car can achieve, and it can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in 5 seconds.  Tesla’s technology is so good that other companies use it in their own products.  Mercedes-Benz uses its powertrain, Daimler uses its battery packs, and Toyota uses its motor.  Simply put, Tesla has the best electric vehicle on the market.  Not only this, but its products are beautiful.  It can be considered the “Apple of the Auto Industry”, and has something of a cult following.  This innovative culture is the product of Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk  Musk is both a brilliant salesman and engineer.  This combination is exceedingly rare to find, and he could easily be compared to Apple’s Steve Jobs.  In many ways, Musk has become the face of the electric car industry.  His demanding nature has attracted both the fascination of the public and the drive of some of the best engineers.  He describes his staff by saying “If you’re at Tesla, you’re choosing to be at the equivalent of Special Forces.  There’s the regular army, and that’s fine, but if you are working at Tesla, you’re choosing to step up your game”. This charisma and intensity is a critical component of the success the company has experienced.

Beyond this, Tesla was able to time the markets in order to take advantage of government funding available during the Cleantech Bubble to gain access to tremendous amounts of capital.  In January 2010, Tesla secured a $465 million loan from the Department of Energy.  Today, this loan is unthinkable with the political climate in Washington.

Entrepreneurial Success Requires Micro-Vision 

All of these factors coupled together show a few things.  Companies must have a micro-vision in order to take advantage of macroeconomic trends.  Entrepreneurs can’t rely on the opportunities that huge markets present without thinking about how their company in particular will capture this market.  Tesla had a vision from the start, whereas Nanosolar and Solyndra didn’t create a solar panel that would stand out from other competitors and in turn, meet a market need.  Beyond this, timing, leadership, people and image all play a significant role in how the success of a company pans out.

Tesla’s success is largely due to a combination of factors.  It created a revolutionary car.  It timed the market perfectly.  It captured a small market before expanding into larger ones.  It attracted incredibly engineers.  It offers direct car sales to its customers through its company dealerships.  Its name has become a coveted brand, and Tesla took advantage of the “sex-appeal” of appearing to be green in order to drive its initial sales of the Roadster.  Perhaps the nuclear industry, an industry not known for its startup-friendly culture can learn from Tesla’s example.

Innovation in the Nuclear Industry

One industry that isn’t necessarily known for its rapid innovation and startup friendly culture is the nuclear industry.  This might be slowly starting to change though.  Y-Combinator, one of the world’s most renown startup incubators, has invested in several nuclear power startups over the past several years.  UPower, a nuclear battery company, hopes to produce a container-sized nuclear battery capable of producing 2 megawatts of electricity.  Instead of producing a reactor that produces enough electricity to power a small state, the reactor would power a small, remote city.  Another startup that YC has recently funded is Helion Energy, a nuclear fusion company that takes an alternative approach to building a nuclear fusion reactor.  Instead of building multi-billion dollar reactors like the ITER, the international effort to build a nuclear fusion reactor, Helion aims to build smaller, distributed reactors for several tens of millions of dollars.  The company claims that it could produce power for $.04/KWh.  Even outside of YC, NuScale Power, the front runner of small modular reactor designers resembles more of a technology startup compared to a traditional nuclear company.  Starting out of the vision of Dr. Jose Reyes in the early 2000s, NuScale has collaborated with Oregon State University and is arguably the company within the industry that has the most momentum.

These companies are examples of an interesting shift in the way innovation is permeating into the nuclear industry.  For decades, innovation within the industry was dominated by larger companies such as GE, Westinghouse and Areva.  Seemingly, some of this momentum is now coming from smaller startups.  While this trend might not seem significant, it could change the way in which newer technologies come to the marketplace.

If startups are going to be successful within the nuclear industry, they are going to have to learn from the startups of Silicon Valley and the Cleantech Bubble.  Compared to other industries, the nuclear industry is heavily capital intensive and regulated, so establishing a strong foundation is critical to a startup’s success.  In particular, a couple issues that the nuclear industry will face mirror those that Tesla overcame.

Breakthrough Nuclear Technologies, and Learning from Tesla

Any nuclear startup will need to address what their target market will be.  Just as Tesla established a small niche and then expanded out into larger markets, nuclear startups must do the same because of the immense size of the energy marketplace.  These startups are going to run into serious challenges because of competition from fossil fuels. Larger nuclear reactors will have the benefit of massive scale, but will face the challenge of proving their economics because of the uncertainty associated with their construction costs.  Not only this, but natural gas and coal will provide fierce competition.  Why should utilities build a $10 billion reactor, when they could build a natural gas plant for half of that in half the time?  Smaller reactors will face similar competition from fossil fuel generators.  What these startups will have to rely on are nuclear power’s inherent advantages over its competition.  Nuclear reactors rarely have to be refueled, making them appealing in marketplaces with unstable and high energy prices.  Additionally, because they don’t have to be refueled, they’re appealing to markets where refueling can be difficult (UPower is attempting to capture this market).

Creating a breakthrough technology in the nuclear industry is going to be difficult, expensive and lengthy due to its strong regulatory framework.  As Peter Thiel writes in Zero to One, a breakthrough technology is something that is orders of magnitude better than the current competition.  Being 25% more efficient than other competitors isn’t going to be considered a breakthrough technology in his mind.  Creating a product that is 2 times better, 5 times better or even 10 times better is what will change the world.  The difficulty that the industry is going to experience is that innovation is a) expensive and b) lengthy.  The NRC is planning on charging $279 for every hour of time that its staff spends reviewing a reactor license, meaning it will cost tens of millions of dollars to win a reactor license.  Additionally, the review period takes several years, making it difficult for any startup to maintain the momentum it built up during its initial period of life.  Nuscale is proving that these regulatory challenges can be overcome by partnering up with a larger firm (in this case it was Fluor, a large construction firm) to gain access to the necessary capital to navigate the process.

There are several technologies that have the potential to be considered breakthrough technologies.  Molten Salt Reactors offer passive safety systems and a smaller footprint that could lead to lower construction and operating costs.  Nuclear fusion, which has been “20 years away for the past 50 years”, could be equally as transformative if it  can be commercialized at competitive costs.  The other technology that could be powerful is the Traveling Wave Reactor which is currently under design by the company Terrapower.  All of these technologies have the potential to improve safety, decrease the waste generated by the fuel cycle, decrease production and construction costs, and in turn, be considered breakthrough technologies.

Building the Nuclear Startups

The laws of building a startup apply to any company that is seeking to enter into the nuclear industry.  While the engineering and monopoly questions are both critical to answer and present unique challenges for the industry in particular, all of the questions will need to be answered.  Building a startup is a massive investment of personal energy and it will consume years of the entrepreneur’s life.  Just because there are some unique challenges facing the nuclear industry doesn’t mean that entrepreneurs should be timid about building a company in the industry.  If anything, this difficulty will separate out those who are serious about building a company and technology from those who are looking to simply get rich.  Building a startup in the nuclear industry offers potentially tremendous rewards if it can overcome the challenges facing the industry.  Where difficulty lies, if success is found, the rewards are tremendous.
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Works Consulted:

“About Tesla.” Tesla Motors. N.p. n.d. Web. 1 May 2015.
Russell, Kyle. "Y Combinator And Mithril Invest In Helion, A Nuclear Fusion Startup." TechCrunch. TechCrunch, 14 Aug. 2014. Web. 02 May 2015.
Russell, Kyle. "YC-Backed UPower Is Building Nuclear Batteries."TechCrunch. TechCrunch, 18 Aug. 2014. Web. 02 May 2015.
“Technology” UPower. N.p. n.d. Web. 1 May 2015.
Thiel, Peter. Zero to One. New York, NY; Crown Publishing. 2014. Print.
"Top 10 Most Active Hurricane Seasons." Weather Underground. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 May 2015.
"WORLD ENERGY INVESTMENT OUTLOOK 2014 FACTSHEET." (n.d.): n. pag.International Energy Agency. International Energy Agency. Web. 1 May 2015.
"§ 170.20 Average Cost per Professional Staff-hour." Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 29 Aug. 2014. Web. 1 May 2015.


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Evan Twarog will graduate high school this year and start at the Coast Guard Academy this summer.  He has been a guest blogger at this blog and an intern at the Energy Education Project of the Ethan Allen Institute.  Most recently, he has been blogging at his own blog, Semper Deinceps (rough translation: "Always Forward").  This post first appeared at that blog. Twarog also contributes to several other sites. Twarog's latest two posts are The Three Gorges Dam: Why China is Run by Engineers at Atomic Insights, and Touring Vermont Yankee, at ANS Nuclear Cafe.  We are pleased to host this essay at this blog.

Tesla Roadster

Meeting about Decomm and Important Posts about Closing Vermont Yankee

Marlboro College
Graduate School Building
graphic from Wikipedia

The Meeting and the Comments

Yesterday, I posted about ways to comment about Vermont Yankee's decommissioning plans. The comment period is only open until Tuesday.

Tonight, there is a meeting in Brattleboro of the Vermont Nuclear Decommissioning Citizen Advisory Panel (NDCAP).  The meeting starts at 6 p.m. at Marlboro College on Vernon Street.  Here's a link to the agenda. Regrettably, I still have a rather bad cold, and I will not be attending.

Did I say "regrettably"? Hmm....I try to be more honest than that!  These meetings can be very hard to attend because the nuclear opponents tend to dominate the conversation.  However, I have heard that this NDCAP meetings have been far more civilized than the earlier VSNAP meetings.  I encourage people to attend and support Vermont Yankee's continued operation and careful closing.

The 165 Layoffs and the Pain

As Vermont Digger posted yesterday, Entergy has announced that 165 Vermont Yankee workers will be laid off on January 19. According to an Entergy press release, 69 of these workers live in Vermont, 48 live in New Hampshire and 39 live in Massachusetts.  (I linked to the Digger article rather than the press release because you can comment on the Digger article.)

Evan Twarog at the left
Speaking at Rotary Day  at the U N

Today, I have a guest blog post at NEI Nuclear Notes about the spreading pain of Vermont Yankee closing. I attempt to cover layoffs, taxes, the grid, and my opinion that the Entergy payments for Windham County development won't help Vermont Yankee employees that much. I hope you read it and comment on it.  Pain from Vermont Yankee Closing Spreads Far and Wide.

Evan Twarog about the pain on the grid

Evan Twarog, the son of a Vermont Yankee employee, is now a blogger at Atomic Insights.  Today he has a very well-researched and thoughtful post about the price rises on the grid.  Power in New England: Why are Prices Increasing So Rapidly?  As usual, at Atomic Insights, the comment stream is also worth reading.

Those of you who follow this blog may remember that Twarog has been a frequent guest blogger, and was a summer intern at the Ethan Allen Institute Energy Education Project, two summers ago.

NEI Report on Vermont Yankee

This week, the Nuclear Energy Institute has written an excellent multi-faceted report on Vermont Yankee.  My blog post (linked above) was the final step in this report.  I encourage you to read the entire report, bookmark it, and use it!

Blog posts:

Closing Vermont Yankee, and All That It Means (overview and market problems)
Vermont Yankee and the Looming Energy Crisis (the energy market shortfalls)
Vermont Yankee and All That It Does Not Produce (effect of closing on the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative)
Pain From Vermont Yankee Closing Spreads Far and Wide  (my post, referenced above)

The report itself (Permanent at the NEI site, not blog posts):

Closing Vermont Yankee (overview and links to other pages, including great links about the energy markets, nationwide)
Nuclear Plant Shutdowns Reveal Market Problems
New England's Looming Energy Crisis
Vermont Yankee Closing Will Challenge Region's Emission Goals

New Blogs and Bloggers, including Evan Twarog (of Vermont Yankee)

I am pleased to welcome new bloggers, and thank another blogger for welcoming a new blog. Then I welcome another new blog. Then I notice a blog I left behind by mistake. Next, I welcome a non-blog.

In other words, it's time to wrap myself in knots keeping up with the nuclear blogosphere!

Evan Twarog blogs at Atomic Insights

At the U.N.
Evan Twarog, Rotary International
President Gary C.K. Huang,
Antonio DiSilva

Let's start close to home.  Evan Twarog is now blogging at Atomic Insights.  Rod Adams of Atomic Insights welcomes Evan with a thoughtful post: Another blogger for Nuclear Energy: Evan Twarog. Evan is the son of John and Cheryl Twarog: John is a shift manager at Vermont Yankee.

Twarog has been a frequent guest blogger at Yes Vermont Yankee. He participated in rallies for the plant, testified before the Public Service Board, and wrote letters to the editor.  Twarog also worked as a summer intern at the Ethan Allen Institute in 2013. He helped with the email program, and he worked on a project model of the electric grid (along with engineer Richard Schmidt). More recently, Twarog won a prestigious competitive scholarship to Renssellear Polytechnic Institute, and won a Rotary Global essay competition. As a result of the Rotary competition, Twarog visited India and recently spoke at the United Nations.

Now Twarog will be blogging at Atomic Insights.  Welcome, Evan Twarog!

Atomic Insights Welcomes Energy Northwest Blog

Rod Adams also welcomed Energy Northwest's new blog, Northwest Clean Energy.  Since I am the lead blogger at that blog, this is another chance for me to say: Thank you, Rod!  Thanks for giving Evan Twarog a great platform, and thanks for welcoming Energy Northwest's blog.

New Blog: Nuclear Defender

I want to welcome a very new blog: Nuclear Defender.  You can't help loving a blog showing two cooling towers near a containment dome (looks kind of like a crown) with the motto: "Keep Calm and Use Nuclear."  So far, the blog has only one post:The Big Bad Becquerel. This post describes what a becquerel is, how tiny it is, and why nuclear opponents love to reference becquerels. Everything looks big...in becquerels! Nuclear Defender reviews an article about leakage at Fukushima and all those becquerels.

Sigh.  It reminds me of my early blogging days, when tritium was always described in the Vermont press in "picocuries" (a trillionth of a curie).  Picocuries, Becquerels.  Very big numbers....for very small quantities.

I look forward to more posts from Nuclear Defender.

Just Found the Blog: CASEnergy Coalition

Christine Todd Whitman

Well, I knew about CASEnergy Coalition (Clean and Safe Energy Coalition) and have used their reference material, such as Economic Benefits of Nuclear Energy.  CASEnergy is led by some pretty heavy hitters, such as Governor Christine Todd Whitman (former Governor of New Jersey and former EPA administrator). But I didn't know CASEnergy had a blog. Yes, they do.  The blog is Clean Energy Buzz, and the archives go back to January 2014.

Yeah. My face is red, especially since Yes Vermont Yankee is on the CASEnergy blog roll.  At any rate, I just added Clean Energy Buzz to my blogroll. A belated welcome to Clean Energy Buzz!

I encourage you to read their latest post, a clear and informative Halloween look at Who You Gonna Call? Nuclear Energy Mythbusters.

There Isn't Actually A Blog: Energy For Humanity

A group of environmentalists have gathered together to start a new website and group: Energy For Humanity.  The founders are Pandora's Promise director Robert Stone, environmental campaigner Kirsty Gogan, and philanthropist Daniel Aegerter. They have no corporate backing, and this group hopes to continue the network and momentum started with the documentary Pandora's Promise.

They have a great website, well worth exploring.  However, they don't have a linkable blog, or at least, I don't see one.  Still, I urge you to visit Energy for Humanity.

I love to hear all these new voices!  All are worth a visit!

Proudly Made in America: Guest post by Evan Twarog

Proudly Made in America

Evan Twarog
November 7 Public Service Board meeting

America is the greatest nation on the planet. Period. When we’re out shopping and see those three words “Made in America”, there is a small bit of pride that we get out of knowing we are supporting jobs right here at home. Small mom and pop store or multibillion dollar corporation, an American business is still an American business. The Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant is run by one of those American businesses, and supports more than 620 jobs right here in our local community.

Many workers who run the facility are veterans who have proudly served our nation in uniform. Some started off in the Coast Guard defending our shores, and saving those who fall into harm’s way. Some started off serving in our nation’s Navy, keeping waters across the world safe from hostile enemies. Some started off protecting the skies in our nation’s Air Force. Still more served in our Army and Marine Corp, defending our freedom both in times of national crisis and war. We must salute these men and women who selflessly defended our nation and are now working in our community.

As the legal battle over Vermont Yankee’s future has played out, there has been a near complete disregard by the State of Vermont to realize the fact that Vermont Yankee supports well-paying AMERICAN jobs, and there is no rational economic reason for shutting down the facility. Governor Shumlin, a long-time critic of the facility, once said “We’re doing all we can so that Vermont can move on from this old plant and move towards an energy future that sends Entergy Louisiana back to Louisiana.” Governor Shumlin, in case you didn’t realize, we are all Americans. We all salute the same flag. We all are part of the same nation. Frankly, I am disgusted by your inability to realize that by shutting down the facility, you will gain nothing but force 620 AMERICANS out of a job.

Vermont Yankee should be a symbol of pride for the community and region. Here, 620 skilled Americans produce clean, cheap, and reliable electricity, while supporting dozens of non-profit organizations with hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations each year. The facility produces power right here in Vermont. Not in Massachusetts. Not in New York. Not in Canada. Vermont. Wouldn’t you rather have your hard-earned money stay local and support local American jobs?

When we buy products with those words “Made in America”, we know we are supporting jobs right here at home in these rough economic times. So why is it that we can’t as a community, as a state, and as Americans, support the Americans who work at Vermont Yankee and are such an integral part of our community?

Evan Twarog, Age 15
112 Ridgewood Ave.
Keene, NH

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Evan Twarog has been an articulate and effective supporter of Vermont Yankee for several years.  This letter also appeared in True North Reports, The Commons, the Brattleboro Reformer, and other local newspapers.

Evan Twarog has two other guest posts at this blog:

• A Teen's View of Vermont Yankee (November 2011) 
• Testimony at the Public Service Board meeting: Vital for the Region and My Family.  (November 2012)

Evan's mother, Cheryl Twarog, testified at the November 2012 hearing and has a guest post at this blog: When Did Nuclear Become a Four-Letter Word?

I am proud to know the Twarog family!

140th Carnival of Nuclear Energy Bloggers at ANS Nuclear Cafe

The 140th Carnival of Nuclear Energy is posted today at ANS Nuclear Cafe.  Will Davis put together a terrific set of blog posts, including more about low-level radiation, fuel cycle news (DOE spent fuel strategy and more), building support for uranium mining in Virginia, nuclear films and video clips, new submarines and the Neutron Express (the way nuclear energy is powering the UK rail system). Plus, a thank-you to Dr. Patrick Moore, Greenpeace founder and pro-nuclear advocate.  Dr. Moore is retiring from CASEnergy Coalition.

Once again, a terrific Carnival. You will enjoy your visit!

The Carnival was here, at Yes Vermont Yankee, last week.  Sigh.  I know I can't always have the Carnival at my place, and every party can't be for my birthday.  Someday, I will be mature enough to accept that.

Meanwhile, let me encourage you to read the latest Carnival.

I also recommend that you read a great letter from Evan Twarog, a teen-ager who has posted at Yes Vermont Yankee on several occasions. Twarog wrote: Proudly Made in America.  Electricity from Vermont Yankee...made in America!

Vital for the Region and My Family, A Teen-Agers View of Vermont Yankee: Guest Post by Evan Twarog

Evan Twarog
See note about the picture  (note near the end of the post)

My name is Evan Twarog. I am a sophomore at Keene High School, and have lived in this region for more than 13 years while my dad has worked at Vermont Yankee. In that time, I have grown to love the region, and couldn’t have imagined growing up anywhere else. Each year, I play two school sports, and I am a proud member of the Keene Rotary Interact Club.

As I’ve seen the legal battle pan out over my family’s primary income source, I’ve learned just how vital Vermont Yankee is to our community. Each year, the nuclear energy facility provides local charities and non-profits with hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding which helps ensure mouths go fed, athletes have gear to play in, and disabled citizens are taken care of. My father is the president of one of those organizations. For almost 14 years, he has worked at the facility and has risen to the position of Shift Manager. In the time he’s worked there, my confidence in Entergy and its employees has only increased.

At the facility, there is no higher priority than safety. In fact, he’s spent more time achieving and maintaining his reactor license than he spent in the four years it took him to get his Bachelor’s. In the past couple of years, as my interest in nuclear energy and VY has increased, I have delved into issues concerning the plant such as economics, safety and environmental issues, and this research has only made me more certain just how important VY is to Vermont’s economy and environment.

 In these rough economic times, it would be an enormous mistake to try to shut down Vermont Yankee and force the 600 families supported by the facility to move out the region. We have much to gain by keeping the facility operating, and much to lose by shutting it down. Thank you.


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This is the 16th in a series of posts which share statements made in favor of Vermont Yankee at the Public Service Board hearing on November 7, 2012.

Evan Twarog wrote an earlier post on this blog: A Teen's View of Vermont Yankee.

A short note about the picture.  People were asked to line up so that they could get to the microphone quickly.  In this picture, you can see Cheryl Twarog standing just behind Evan, ready for her chance to speak.  Between them, sitting down, is Peter Lothes, who also spoke for the plant.  Just to Evan's left, also in an aisle seat, is a man who identified himself as Brother Toby from a Buddhist temple. This man was quoted in the Reformer.  Not surprisingly, he spoke against the plant and against all nuclear energy.

Vermont Yankee Rally: Green Power for St Patrick's Day

The Rally at the Plant Gates today went very well. The weather was wonderful, and we had the biggest turn-out ever: over 70 people! The homemade signs were terrific! People had a super time waving at cars at shift change, and chatting. Finally, we went in to the Governor Hunt house for a snack, including a cake with green trim, green icing shamrocks, and the message: "Green Power for 20 more years."

I am posting a few pix, but I really didn't take very good pix, so I hope to get more pix from others and post them. Here are a few pictures from near the beginning of the rally.

Smart Phones and Teenagers

The picture below deserves some explanation. It shows the Twarog family. They are wearing green hats provided by Howard Shaffer, and their son is concentrating on a smart phone.

Their son is helping me out. I had been on WPTZ TV Friday evening (the local NBC station) and WPTZ asked me if I could email them some pix of the rally by about 5:30 Saturday to be on the 6 p.m. news. And maybe I could email a video, too? They explained I could just send these from a smartphone, no problem.

But there was a problem. I don't have a smartphone. What to do? How could I get the pictures taken and sent to WPTZ for the 6 o clock news?

Of course, you already know how this story is going to end. At the rally, I asked a teenager. Cam Twarog took the pix, sent the pix, and obviously enjoyed himself doing it.

Everybody had a great time.

A tough week coming

The coming week looks like a tough one for the Brattleboro/Vernon area. Opponents have several sets of demonstrations planned for the day after the plant was "supposed" to shut down. The papers have also been full of calls for "direct action" to shut the plant down, and the importance of having taken the "non-violence training." (Nobody at our rally was violent, and we didn't need any training.)

Some of the talk at the rally was about the coming week. Many people had attended a Thursday meeting with the Vernon selectboard and police chief, talking about safety preparations for the upcoming demonstrations. Here's a Brattleboro Reformer article about that meeting: Vernon Gets Ready for VY Protests: Preparing for the Worst, Hoping for the Best.

We are glad we could come out and do our positive-energy rally at the plant today.

Update

I just added this short video. Thank you to the Twarog family for sharing

Pix: Carla Heath has sign 7300 more days. Fran Jerard has Green Clean sign with shamrocks.

A Teen's View of Vermont Yankee

This letter to the editor appeared in the Brattleboro Reformer on November 4, 2011. Evan Twarog was kind enough to allow me to reprint it in this blog.

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A Teen’s view of Vermont Yankee

Editor of the Reformer:

Nuclear power ... Vermont Yankee ... all increasingly con­troversial topics today. But no matter what side of the aisle you rest on, if you live in Vermont or New Hampshire, you’ll be affected if Vermont Yankee closes. Do I know for sure what the future holds for Vermont? No, not me and certainly not anyone else. But I can take a look at the statistics to deter­mine what is most likely best for Vermont, and so can you. We all want what is best for Ver­mont, but we all have miscon­ceptions and it takes will-power to overcome them. If we all open our minds to listen to the other side of the argument, we will be in a much better position to make decisions. In order to be a true leader, you need to have the courage to do that.

My dad works at Vermont Yan­kee. I’m incredibly proud of him. He’s worked tirelessly to get to the position he has now. He is a shift manager, and is in charge of operations at the plant when he is on shift. He is an incredibly smart man, and he wouldn’t have moved his family to this region if he felt that VY was in any way dangerous. On top of working 12 hour days and being a terrific father, he runs the Keene Youth Lacrosse Program. Many other employees of the plant are actively involved in other organ­izations as well. I understand that you might have negative feelings about the plant, but just try to put yourself in my shoes. Maybe you’ll see that my dad’s not the monster the media and anti-VY groups make him and the other VY employees out to be.

I’ve always thought that good things happen to good people, but clearly life is not so simple. I’ve always given back to the community, pushed myself in school, and helped others. Every night my family wonders what we will do if VY does shut down. We have to live with the fact that if VY closes, we won’t have the life that we enjoy now. No one, let alone a kid should have to deal with that. My family’s story is only one story of more than 600.

I have done the research, and I truly believe that Vermont Yan­kee is not only safe, but it is a reliable and clean source of energy. It is a major employer, which our area needs desperate­ly in these tough economic times. I am proud to be part of the VY family.

Evan Twarog,

Keene, N.H., Oct. 31

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Evan Twarog appears in these two pictures of the Rally in support of Vermont Yankee on October 23. He is wearing a red jacket and appears with his mother and younger brother. I thank the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant Facebook page for allowing me to use these pictures.