Ecomodernist Podcast on "Campaigning for Clean Air"

I was recently invited to talk about my book, Campaigning for Clean Air, on the Ecomodernist Podcast.  The podcast was released, and here's the link.  I hope you will listen to it: I think you will enjoy the conversation.

The Ecomodernist Podcast:

Part of the podcast was talking about my book, There are many books about the virtues of nuclear power, but this is the first book (as far as I know) on how to support nuclear power in the public sphere.  It's the "then what" book:

"Now that I know about the importance of nuclear power, then what can I do to support it?"

My book is a major answer to that question.   I encourage you to read its excellent reviews on Amazon.

However, a good podcast goes beyond just discussing the book.  Gabriel Ignetti and Rick Maltese were great interviewers.

We discussed combustion versus nuclear energy for electricity. Specifically,  we discussed the nasty effects on air quality that are caused by nitrogen oxides from gas and coal-fired plants. Nowadays, carbon dioxide gets all the press, but nitrogen oxides are still out there, making smog and acid rain. We discussed  being members of environmental groups that are fighting climate change, and the importance of sticking up for nuclear within these groups.  Ignetti, especially, had good stories about his involvement in the environmental movement in Florida.  We discussed hecklers and people who really get "in your face" against nuclear, and possibly-effective versus certainly-ineffective ways to deal with them.

At the end of the podcast, Ignetti and Maltese have a short, separate section, sharing some research they did about how nitrogen oxides affect people's health, forest health, and even our sculpture and our buildings.

Ecomodernism

Painted trillium in Pisgah National Forest
A not-power-plant near a waterfall.

I was on the  "Ecomodernist Podcast," and now you may be wondering: what is "ecomodernism"?  Ecomodernism is a movement that started in 2015, with the publication of the Ecomodernist Manifesto. The ecomodernist goal is human prosperity and an ecologically vibrant planet.

This goal will be achieved by humans choosing technologies that can lift people from poverty and supply abundant energy, while using less of the of the world's area for human endeavors.  This means, for example, using compact energy sources like nuclear power, and leaving the ridges, the tides, the woodlands,  the pastures, and the streams to benefit the ecologies that need ridges, tides, woodlands,  pastures and streams.  In other words, giving nature room to breathe, while giving humans enough abundance to live healthy lives.

Ecomodernism hadn't been invented yet, in 2013, when I had an article in ANS Nuclear Cafe: Farmers, City Folk and Renewable Energy. But the idea in my article substantially the same: don't look at every woods and every waterfall as a source of energy, ready for "biomass" burning, or building a nice big concrete dam.

Let much of nature be nature.  Use compact sources of energy, rather than bulldozing the woods.

That is also a goal of ecomodernism.

Nuclear Blogger Carnival 287, The Paris Edition

Pro-nuclear flag designed by Robert Hargraves

UN colors, world grid

Dan Yurman on flag origin and meaning

Once again, we are proud to host the Carnival of Nuclear Energy Bloggers, right here at Yes Vermont Yankee.  The Carnival is a compendium of nuclear blogs that rotates from blog site to blog site, and it is always a pleasure and an honor to host it.

This week, the majority of the posts are about nuclear and Paris (COP 21), nuclear and carbon, and nuclear and climate change.

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From Atomic Insights: Rod Adams

James Hansen takes stage at COP21 to explain carbon fee and dividend

James Hansen and the Citizen's Climate Lobby have a plan to gradually add a waste disposal fee to fuels that produce CO2 when burned to produce energy. The plan uses market forces to help properly price energy alternatives so that the full cost is visible. Instead of giving the money to appointed bureaucrats to select recipients, the plan returns all collected money back to citizens in an equal amount per person.

Read the post, but pay close attention to the much better than average discussion.

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Northwest Clean Energy: John Dobken

How Serious About Climate Change Are We, Really?

Ramp-up, from Breakthrough Institute

John Dobken takes on the reasons why opponents claim that nuclear can't help with climate change.  There's "can't build them fast enough." Wrong.  Nuclear has ramped up faster than any other low-carbon source of electricity.  There's the "free-market" argument. This argument seems to be suspended when people discuss a wind ramp-up.  Dobken's well-illustrated post should be on everyone's quick-reference list for climate change issues.

Neutron Bytes: Dan Yurman

UK gets ready for Small Modular Reactors

Two significant US vendors, Westinghouse and NuScale, are making serious efforts to develop the market for SMRs in the UK.
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Energy Reality Project:

Post by Rick Maltese

Letter box in Paris

COP 21 and What is Missing From the Table

Solutions are missing. I make a case in a shorter than usual post about doing more than reductions. I suggest reversing CO2. After hearing James Hansen's interview by Amy Goodman on Democracy Now this is very relevant. He talks about "honest" accounting. The idea that fossil fuel companies be held accountable for the costs to environment and society by charging them or fining them for the damages created by their carbon emissions. That is a solution that gets closer to the real problem. Using words like "penalty" and "reward" are more needed. Nuclear needs to be rewarded for clean non-emitting reliable energy. Dirty fossil fuels need to be punished.

Guest post by Robert Rudolph Hasspacher

How Would Advanced Aliens Size Up Our Reluctance to Use Nuclear Energy

The title suggests that they would see our choices as foolish. Making poor choices instead of sensible choices makes us seem less advanced than we think.

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Yes Vermont Yankee: Meredith Angwin

Books for Climate, Books for Your Nuclear Family
In honor of the Paris conference, Angwin features two books about nuclear energy and climate change:

• Climate Gamble: Is Anti-Nuclear Activism Endangering Our Future
• Greenjacked!: The derailing of environmental activism on climate change

Backwards to the Future: Carbon and Pollution Rise in New England

It's back! Fossil fuel burning is on the rise again in New England during the winter. Nitrogen oxide pollution, sulfur dioxide pollution, and carbon emissions are rising right along with it.  Graphs from a NESCOE presentation. 

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Scotch Whiskeys

Gail Marcus: Nuke Power Talk

Another Link Between Alcohol and the Atom: Whiskey and Radioactivity

In a lighter mode.  Over the last several years, Gail Marcus has reported several times at Nuke Power
Talk on interesting “connections" between alcohol or food and radioactivity—particularly, ways in which one can benefit the other.  This week, she reports on a new one:  a finding that the grains left over from whiskey making may be useful for biosorption of radioactive environmental contaminants.

Updated: Nuclear Blogger Carnival 285, Here at Yes Vermont Yankee

Once again, we are proud to host the Carnival of Nuclear Energy Bloggers, right here at Yes Vermont Yankee.  The Carnival is a compendium of nuclear blogs that rotates from blog site to blog site, and it is always a pleasure and an honor to host it.

I am happy to update it with new posts…and unhappy to update it with the news that the Fitzpatrick plant will close.

Nuke Power Talk -- Gail Marcus

Scary Energy Scenarios: My Real Fears on Halloween.

At Nuke Power Talk, Gail Marcus reflects on the Halloween holiday and conjures up futures that are scarier than ghosts and goblins.  When short-sighted policies and misinformed views dominate energy decisions, these futures can go from being scary to--being scary and being real.

Salaries by Degree Field (Update---new post)

In another blog from Gail Marcus at Nuke Power Talk, she reports on the results of a salary survey by academic degree field.  Engineering fields in general ranked high, and nuclear engineering was #2 for mid-career alumni out of 319 academic fields surveyed.

Energy Reality Project--Rick Maltese

Educating a new nuclear workforce: Guest post by Beth Kelly (Update--new post0

This is a post about filling new nuclear jobs in a hypothetical growing market.  However, unless you assume that all nuclear plants in the country will close within ten years (an unwarranted assumption), you must notice that about half the workers at nuclear plants will retire within ten years.  And that leads to job opportunities for younger workers.

Audio version of Chapter 8 of Maltese's book: Energy Reality, a Necessary Renaissance (Update--new post)

Rick Maltese is writing a book he titles Energy Reality: A Necessary Renaissance. He has been posting his chapters at patreon, a crowd-funding website.  This is the first audio sample.

Atomic Insights-- Rod Adams

Several important nuclear energy developments from the Westinghouse press office

Westinghouse announced that the first two  reactor coolant pumps for their AP1000 reactor have passed all qualification tests and should arrive at the Sanmen site in China for installation by Dec 31, 2015.

The next day, Westinghouse announced that they are buying the nuclear plant construction assets of CB&I, their partner at Plant Vogtle and VC Summer.

An excellent discussion of the facts and implications, and of course, a very lively comment stream.

 Yes Vermont Yankee--Meredith Angwin (update, bad news)

Ginna continues operation, surcharges in context, and Fitzpatrick

The Ginna nuclear power plant has been received some financial relief, and will keep operating for at least another 18 months. Sadly, Entergy announced today that the Fitzpatrick plant will close (the post include links to articles about Fitzpatrick.)  In this blog post, Angwin compares the financial relief to Ginna to other electricity surcharges, including Vermont's own local "Efficiency Vermont" charges (much higher than the Ginna per-household costs) and the cost of proposed carbon taxes.

ANS Nuclear Cafe--Ted Besmann

The Power of Nuclear Energy

In this post, Besmann describes some of the economic hazards that currently face the U.S. fleet of nuclear plants.  The EPA proposed clean power rule gives less than 6% credit to emissions reduction from nuclear plants, for example. At the same time, the EPA claims that it would be worth paying  an extra $12 to $17 dollars per ton of CO2 that is not emitted.  But this monetary value is theoretical and not available to nuclear plants.