Atomic Insights

Defy Joe Romm’s advice and watch Pandora’s Promise

Rod Adams · June 19, 2013 · 2 Comments

Joe Romm, the lead thinker at Climate Progress, has once again exposed the fact that he is not terribly serious about fighting climate change. In fact, he is so casual about the effort that he wants everyone to dismiss nuclear energy out of hand as being too expensive to matter, without even thinking about trying to solve the often solvable issue of cost.

If the television manufacturing industry adhered to Joe’s understanding of cost control, we might all still be looking at large, flat screen TVs with longing lust instead of having watched their prices drop rapidly into the affordable range.

Of course, so far, the nuclear industry has done a bang-up job of not controlling costs. We have cooperated in a long term effort to burden our amazing technology with so many cost-increasing features that we have priced ourselves right out of the market. In the process, we have done as much or more as the antinuclear opposition to make the world a dirtier and more dangerous place.

Joe’s latest rant about the high cost of nuclear energy came in a post purposely aimed at discouraging his followers from going to see Pandora’s Promise. He has not bothered to watch the movie, but he apparently feels qualified to offer a “resounding no” to anyone who might be considering investing just 90 minutes of their time to gain a new and useful perspective on one of the most important topics of our time.

I strongly disagree with that recommendation. You should see the movie and you should take all of your friends to see the movie. You should organize outings to encourage strangers to see the movie. It is an valuable contribution to a vital discussion.
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Empowering victims of the Fukushima Frenzy to resist radiation FUD

Rod Adams · June 19, 2013 · 4 Comments

Dr. James Conca has published another important post about the aftermath of Fukushima and the efforts of the people opposed to the use of nuclear energy to spread fear, uncertainty and doubt about imaginary health effects of low dose radiation. The article is titled Fukushima 2.25 — The Humanitarian Crisis; it is a “must read” that includes a growing discussion thread of occasionally thoughtful commentary.

Jim’s premise is that the continued access restrictions to all but the most contaminated areas are harming people by preventing them from living normal, productive lives. Instead, potentially healthy Fukushima natives are being turned into victims of excessive stresses caused by living in temporary relocation facilities while being frequently subjected to fear-inducing stories about how they and their children will eventually become victims of cancer or other scary illnesses. In some cases, their fellow countrymen actively avoid contact out of irrational fear that they will somehow become contaminated themselves.

Ironically, however, the WHO report highlights the psychological effects of the disaster — fear, anxiety and depression to the point of psychosomatic illness, psychiatric disorders and suicide (Husband of Fukushima suicide victim demands justice). And, as only humans can do, people tend to stigmatize those hailing from the affected areas, making relocation even more punishing socially and physically.

The miniscule risks outlined by all these studies do not justify the continued harm and devastation perpetrated upon the Fukushima refugees. Except for the small, highly contaminated areas adjacent to the reactors which should stay off-limits until remediated, the risk of cancer and death from the increased use of coal and gas since the disaster has provided much more risk to the population of the Tohoku region, and to Japan as a whole, than any radiation effects from Fukushima (Killer Energy Sources).

Pandora’s Promise – bullseye against wrong target

Rod Adams · June 17, 2013 · 71 Comments

I had an experience this weekend that reinforced my growing understanding that pronuclear advocates have been distracted by the wrong target. Instead of focusing our fire against the people — both outside and inside the industry — who have successfully driven up the cost of nuclear energy to a point at which it is unable [...]

UCS is guilty of harming humans by reinforcing fear mongering

Rod Adams · June 15, 2013 · 79 Comments

Correction: (Posted at 6:43 on 6/16/2013) I made a boneheaded error in the below computation and dropped an important prefix in my units. That error resulted in my final number being off by a factor of 1000; I wrote 0.001 mrem when it should have been 0.001 rem. I apologize for the math error. I [...]

Pandora’s Promise disrupts assumptions about nuclear energy

Rod Adams · June 14, 2013 · 23 Comments

If Robert Stone’s primary purpose in creating Pandora’s Promise was to generate discussion about nuclear energy, it appears that he has succeeded. If his underlying purpose was to generate heated and uncomfortable reactions from people who have invested their entire career identity into being a go-to person for a negative comment about nuclear energy for [...]

Pandora’s Promise Review Roundup

Rod Adams · June 13, 2013 · 30 Comments

Robert Stone’s Pandora’s Promise has been capturing attention and encouraging people to challenge their personal beliefs and tribal assumptions. Stone’s documentary is a classic “journey of discovery” tale featuring five people who changed their minds about nuclear energy from opposition to support. It takes viewers along the path of knowledge discovery followed by Gwyneth Cravens, [...]

Clip from Pandora’s Promise explains Megatons to Megawatts

Rod Adams · June 11, 2013

One of the least understood features of nuclear power plants is that they consume materials that might otherwise end up in nuclear weapons. Of course, activists that battle the use of nuclear energy generally try to turn that feature into a fault. They have convinced more than a few people that without nuclear power plants, [...]

Nuclear Clean Air Energy – Promotion via Indy Car racing

Rod Adams · June 3, 2013 · 7 Comments

Since I often point out how infrequently the nuclear industry advertises its clean and exceedingly useful product, I suppose it is only fair for me to point out those occasions when nuclear companies make an effort to communication a clear, concise, memorable, marketing message. Here’s hoping that the encouragement spawns additional efforts!

Local news (WPIX-TV) coverage about Indian Point nuclear power plant

Rod Adams · June 1, 2013 · 24 Comments

On May 31, 2013, Pix 11 (WPIX-TV out of New York City) published a story titled Local power plant battling lawmakers and environmentalists to stay open that included some information about the potential negative effects on the New York City power supply if the plant is forced to shut down. It mentioned that politicians like [...]

Atomic Show #205 – Peter Sandman teaches nuclear communicators

Rod Adams · May 31, 2013 · 22 Comments

Dr. Peter Sandman is one of the world’s leading experts on risk communications. He is the author of one of the most referenced texts for practitioners in the field titled Responding to Community Outrage: Strategies for Effective Risk Communications. After building a profitable consulting business that has provided the resources to send both his children [...]

FoE Australia’s Jim Green issues conditional apology

Rod Adams · May 28, 2013 · 20 Comments

On May 22, I republished a post written by Ben Heard and Geoff Russell for DecarboniseSA titled Green Nuclear Junk. In my introduction to the post, I made the following statement: My goal is to add just a little more pressure on Jim Green — the national antinuclear campaigner for Friends of the Earth, Australia [...]

Areva Inc.’s Mike Rencheck discusses his company’s business outlook

Rod Adams · May 28, 2013 · 1 Comment

Platts Energy Week recently interviewed Mike Rencheck, the CEO of Areva Inc., about the company’s outlook on the US nuclear energy market. During the interview, Rencheck talked about Areva’s business serving the operational needs of the existing fleet of nuclear power plants, its involvement with plant uprates, the Mixed Oxide (MOX) project at the Savannah [...]