The Compliment
About two weeks ago, Linda Zec emailed me. She is Online Communications Specialist at the American Nuclear Society (ANS). She said ANS was putting new banners on the ANS Facebook page and the ANS Twitter page. These banners would change frequently, and each banner would feature an ANS member.
Would I like to be featured?
What a compliment this request was! Of course I would like to be featured!
My husband is trying very hard to teach me to simply say "thank you" when I receive a compliment. My usual response to a compliment has been to fall all over myself explaining why I don't deserve it, etc. George has been working with me about this issue for about fifty years now. I am beginning to "get it."
Therefore, with great savior faire, I answered Zec. I said: "Yes, of course I would like to be featured. Thank you for thinking of me." (If you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you.) At any rate, I did say "yes."
Zec explained that she didn't want a head-and-shoulders shot, but a picture of me with a background of my choice. I knew immediately that the "background of my choice" would be Vermont Yankee. She also wanted a short quote from me. She suggested that I check the existing ANS banner to get the idea of what she would like to see.
The Banners
So, the first thing I did was check the banner that was already in place at the ANS Facebook page. Uh-oh. It was the president of ANS, Gene Grecheck, with an absolutely wonderful quote about the world-wide importance of nuclear energy. Here it is, below.
Oh dear. I looked at this. I wondered if I should call Zec back and explain that I didn't deserve…and I couldn't come up with a good quote…but then my husband would be mad at me…Okay. I'll do it.
Meanwhile, I needed a new picture. I am extremely grateful to Martin Cohn, Senior Communications Specialist at Entergy, who arranged for me to visit Vermont Yankee. He took a wonderful picture of me with the plant in the background.
You can see the picture at the top of this blog post (where it will stay) and also at the ANS Facebook page and ANS Twitter page (where it will be replaced soon with other featured members of ANS).
The Quote
So, all I needed was the quote. Basically, in thirty words, how do I feel about nuclear energy?
I rewrote my quote several times. Still, the center of the quote was always there for me.
I see the grid in my mind, with all its users and its power plants and its connections. Within the grid, I see the nuclear plants as jewels. They are reliable. They are safe. They make huge amounts of power. They are clean: they don't spill out carbon dioxide and acid gases (such as NOx). The jobs at nuclear plants are good jobs. They help their communities by taxes, and they also have a culture of community involvement.
The nuclear plants are jewels, connected and shining in the great net of the grid.
So that is what I said.
Every nuclear plant is a jewel. It provides good jobs and school taxes to its community, and clean reliable power to the grid. We must advocate for the expanded use of nuclear energy.
