The Carnival, The Rise of FUD, and a Scandal

Carnival: The 158th Carnival of Nuclear Energy Blogs is well worth reading.  It contains a link to my Black Start diesel post.  Atomic Power Review blog hosted the Carnival, and Will Davis, the blogger at that site, made a great comment on the actions of the intervenors:

Atomic Power Review Note:  Regarding the Yes Vermont Yankee post linked and described above...  Just how many times in this post-Fukushima world would one EVER expect to find any group, anywhere, that could possibly justify campaigning AGAINST adding a back up diesel generator at a nuclear plant site?

In Vermont, sometimes it is possible to get so used to intervenor actions that we forget how absurd they can be.

The Golden Dome
AKA Vermont State House
AKA Golden Bubble

Shaffer Post on Gundersen Testimony: While I was out of town in North Carolina, Howard Shaffer posted about Arnie Gundersen's visit to the Vermont legislature at ANS Nuclear Cafe. 

Shaffer's post has the accurate title: Love Feast Under the Golden Dome.  Shaffer's title is accurate, but Gundersen's statements are not accurate.  Shaffer quotes and refutes his statements.  Gundersen is a very skillful purveyor of FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt).  A post well worth reading.

Shumlin Scandal:  I almost never post anything about Vermont politics unless it has something to do with energy.  I need to make an exception.  

Governor Peter Shumlin was involved in a questionable land deal, where he bought land from a very poor neighbor, and he paid approximately one-fourth of the listed value of the land. The neighbor was facing a tax sale, but would undoubtedly have received far more money from such a sale than he received from Shumlin.  However, he seemed to have been panicked at the thought of the tax sale, and closed with Shumlin the day before the sale was scheduled.

To many people in Vermont, Shumlin's actions seem unethical or perhaps even illegal.  As I say, this isn't about energy, so I usually wouldn't bother with this sort of thing.  But I suspect the national press is going to pick up on this, and I want to be sure my readers are informed.  I also want to avoid getting ten thousand emails asking me: "Meredith, did you see this?!" 

Two articles from Vermont Digger are linked below.  More articles are being posted daily, all over Vermont.

Shumlin Land Deal Draws More Questions by Andrew Stein.

Governor Responds to Reporters on Land Deal...One at a Time by Andrew Stein.

Nuclear News Interview with Shaffer and Angwin

The American Nuclear Society (ANS) is a professional society for the nuclear industry. Howard Shaffer has been a member for over thirty years. For much of my working life in the nuclear industry, I was a member of the corrosion engineers' society, NACE International. I joined the American Nuclear Society when I moved to Vermont.

Though the American Nuclear Society has American in its name, it is actually international in scope. For example, ANS just opened a section in India. Howard Shaffer and I both write guest blogs at ANS Nuclear Cafe. Here's a link to Howard's most recent post, and to mine.

The American Nuclear Society also started the Vermont Pilot Project. This project is co-sponsored by the ANS as a whole and by the Northeastern Section of ANS. Howard Shaffer heads the Pilot Project outreach program, which makes nuclear expertise available for advocacy efforts in Vermont. The Energy Education Project (I am director) works closely with the ANS Vermont Pilot Project. In other words, Howard and I still work together.

With all this activity (blogging, Pilot Project), I wasn't totally surprised when people at ANS said they wanted to interview us for an article in Nuclear News. Nuclear News is a monthly publication sent to 11,000 ANS members worldwide. When ANS asked to interview us, I imagined we would be a little one-page interview, tucked somewhere in the magazine.

Instead, Howard and I are delighted and honored to have been the cover story in Nuclear News in February. The article is several pages long, with many quotes from us about the situation in Vermont and our outreach efforts. During February, however, the story was behind a paywall at the ANS website. Now, in March, you can download it and read it in full.

Upcoming Meeting

At the March meeting of the Northeastern Section of the American Nuclear Society, I will present a talk on Vermont Pro-Nuclear Activism: A History and Lessons Learned to Date. This ANS meeting will be in the Boston area on the evening of March 22. ANS meetings are primarily for ANS members, but guests are welcome. Contact me at mjangwin at gmail for more information.

Getting Ready for the Week

This is a week of meetings and speaking engagements for me and Howard and other pro-nuclear people here in Vermont.

If you have a chance, please read my earlier post on the four important meetings this week, including the Shaffer-Gundersen debate this Thursday.

Important Vermont Yankee Meetings. Updated.

This morning, a post I wrote went up at ANS Nuclear Cafe. It's all about techniques for supporting nuclear energy in public debates.

Talking about my (nuclear) generation

Suzanne Hobbs at Popatomic has a related post about learning from the opponents in debate.

Learning from Anti-Nukes: An Alternative Strategy

In other important news, Dan Yurman at Idaho Samizdat describes why Vermont (and New York) will probably lose their spent fuel case against NRC.

New York Could Lose Spent Fuel Case

And finally, I want to give a shout-out to Suzanne Hobbs for her post on art in support of Vermont Yankee. With her permission, one of her posters is on this website. Say NO to more Fossil Fuels in Vermont!

Save Vermont Yankee

Have a good day! I'm off to Burlington for the day. Various activities about the debate, followed by being on a TV show.

Update Again: I embedded the TV clip.

31st Carnival of Nuclear Energy

The 31st Carnival of Nuclear Energy blogs is up at ANS Nuclear Cafe. Dan Yurman assembled a fabulous collection of blogs. This post might be subtitled: Everything you wanted to know about nuclear today, but were afraid to ask.

The Carnival includes a series of posts about the Nuclear Summit which recently took place in Washington D. C. The bottom line is complex, but basically, wind and solar cannot provide reliable power. However, if people assume that natural gas prices will remain cheap indefinitely, the market will choose to build natural gas plants. (The market doesn't care too much about greenhouse gases, when all is said and done.) Is this appropriate?

Taking a broader view of costs, the Carnival links to posts describing the levelized cost per kilowatt for nuclear, solar, wind and fossil energy world-wide. Nuclear energy is far less expensive than solar and wind, but the comparison to fossil depends heavily on carbon costs. Will carbon sequestration be required? Will carbon taxes be imposed?

Other posts describe Warren Buffet's nuclear fuel bank philanthropy, and issues about export of nuclear materials. Gail Marcus points out that the "footprint" of wind farms is frequently underestimated. I explain "geothermal heating" in Vermont: geothermal is advanced electrical heating. Governor-elect Shumlin is fond of this type of heating. Vermont Yankee could provide the power for it.

Always something to think about. Always something thought-provoking. No cotton candy.

Come to the Carnival!

A New Blog and New Signs. It's a New Year!

Well, it's not actually a new year (Rosh Hashanah) until the middle of next week, but there are new things happening now about Vermont Yankee and nuclear.

New Signs of Support for Vermont Yankee

One of the problem with being FOR Vermont Yankee is...what could you do about it? The opponents had signs and posters and pins and...

But that's old news! That was so Last Year. The New News is that Entergy finally got some signs together for plant supporters. Some signs, some bumper stickers, some campaign buttons, some refrigerator magnets. These all have a simple message:

VY4VT

Entergy quickly gave all their first-printing of these materials to local supporters. They ordered more, however, and the order just came in. You get some of these for yourself and your family. You can adorn your car, lawn, lapel and refrigerator with your support of the plant. Let's be visible!

The email address to ask for pins, bumper stickers, etc is here.

American Nuclear Society Blog

The American Nuclear Society (ANS) has a new blog. the ANS Nuclear Cafe. Cafe is a great word, because it means "a place to have coffee and informal meals" and it also means a place to have small informal public discussions. My husband and I have talked about starting a version of Cafe Scientifique in this area, but it has just been one-of-the-things-we-talked-about. I welcome the ANS Nuclear Cafe blog.

Well, I admit it. I also welcome it because I will be one of the bloggers. ANS acknowledges that what is happening in Vermont is important beyond the borders of Vermont. The new blog will include a View From Vermont on a regular basis. Howard Shaffer (often a guest blogger on this blog) and I will be co-blogging the feature.

Dan Yurman of Idaho Samizdat was instrumental in getting this ANS blog going. Dan and Laura Scheele of ANS Outreach will be in charge of it. Dan has a very informative post about the new Nuclear Cafe, listing some of the guest bloggers, including yours-truly. Rod Adams of Atomic Insights will blog about the view from Washington. The absolutely amazing Ted Rockwell of Learning About Energy will also be blogging. Also, Nuclear Cafe will host the Blog Carnival of Nuclear Energy once a month.

The blog is on my blog roll already, and I look forward to following it.

Double-espresso image from Wikimedia commons.