Mike Walker has just introduced himself as Another Blogger for Nuclear Energy. He posted his first blog titled “Big, ugly, and scary”, or How Hollywood has Misinformed the Public About Nuclear Power on NuclearStreet.com.
Here is how Mike describes his blog and his mission:
This blog will focus on how to communicate in an even, balanced, but pro-nuclear tone the actual, science-supported, facts of nuclear power and associated applications. The trajectory of how we came to a point in the United States were much of the public greatly fears nuclear power despite other forms of power being more damaging to the environment will be explored more as will other aspects of our nuclear history, as I expect readers will find such history pretty interesting. The Cold War era is rife with a history that is only now becoming fully in the public discourse as more and more of it is declassified and for the most part, it’s truth better than fiction, with ample tales of real-life heroes and impressive, pioneering, research. Whole books have been written on this topic, one of the best being one I just finished reading myself entitled Nuclear Power from Underseas to Outer Space by John Simpson (American Nuclear Society, 1994) which chronicles Mr. Simpson’s career at Westinghouse in nuclear research, his work under the direction of Admiral Rickover, and the evolution of early naval nuclear power applications. I cannot recommend it enough: well-written and covering some areas of history that have not been considered elsewhere, it should interest anyone in the industry. I will also cover current issues in the Russian nuclear industry since that’s my own area of expertise (alongside Russian/Slavic issues in general) and one little-reported in the US trade media, it seems.
I agree with Mike about Simpson’s book; I have a much dogeared and highlighted copy in my library. I am looking forward to learning more about the Russian nuclear industry; it has been one of the few islands of innovation in that often backward country.
Mike’s post initially captured my attention because it includes a pencilled sketch of Bellefonte, a nuclear plant that I see every day.
No, I do not live in Alabama and have never actually been to the site, but one of my favorite pronuclear energy advocates, Suzy Hobbs-Baker once honored me with a framed copy of an image of the plant as she would like to see it. That gift has been a wonderful conversation starter; it brings almost as many people into my office as the chocolate-filled basket that sits invitingly on my desk.
I recommend taking a look at some of the rest of the PopAtomic artwork that Suzy has shared with the world. If you hold a decision-making position in a company that owns a cooling tower or two that are just begging to be turned into attractive public art, I am sure she would love to hear from you.
I’ll give Mike’s blog a shot soon! Always welcome rational allies!
Re: If you gotta have them, if anyone should be turned loose to paint cooling towers it ought be those folks who did that nearly invisible camouflage for U.S. destroyers and cruisers in WWII…
James Grenidge
Queens NY
In practice, dazzle camouflage does not make a ship difficult to see. It does make it very hard to tell what kind of ship it is, by breaking up the shapes of the superstructure.
So you could not make a cooling tower invisible. You could make it look like an office block or a large tea cosy.