Man Bites Dog Syndrome is Alive and Well

I’ll admit it. I am a wee bit jealous of the attention that Patrick Moore and his Greenspirit Strategies are getting for their pro-nuclear stance.

Mr. Moore is definitely on the right track now; he and his organization recognize that abundant, emissions free, nuclear energy is a boon for mankind. They are advocating a reasonable path that will result in a cleaner, more peaceful and more affluent world with greater access to energy than is currently available. I congratulate and support his efforts and wish him fair winds and following seas as he works to make this vision a reality.

However, there are plenty of other people that have been working to implement that path for decades. Most of them have been ignored or dismissed as nuclear industry shills, even if they were really advocates for the use of a natural material with incredible capabilities, many of which had not been exploited by any company. It never seemed to matter that the people supporting nuclear power developments and working in the nuclear industry were some of the brightest and best educated engineers, scientists and business people in the country. The refinements in design and excellent operational performance of existing nuclear plants that Mr. Moore cites as his reasons for favoring nuclear power now could not have occurred without their dedicated efforts in the face of significant opposition.

As a result of his current pro-nuclear stance, Patrick Moore is getting standing ovations at American Nuclear Society Meetings, testifying in front of the US Congress and getting interviewed by CBS News and the San Francisco Chronicle. His Greenspirit Strategies is also becoming a rather successful consulting enterprise. The difference is that Mr. Moore has had an epiphany; at one time in his career he was famous as a staunch anti-nuclear activist who founded Greenpeace, one of the world’s most successful anti-nuclear enterprises. During his televised interview, Jim Axelrod of CBS News stated that Moore’s support of new nuclear power plants is viewed as a “stunning reversal.”

As the old saw says – dog bites man is not news, but man bites dog may be worthy of the front page.