Atomic Insights

Atomic energy technology, politics, and perceptions from a nuclear energy insider who served as a US nuclear submarine engineer officer

Save Diablo Canyon Rally – Wear the Green on St. Patrick’s Day

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Diablo greenThe Friends of Diablo Canyon will be holding their second annual St. Patrick’s Day rally to increase public awareness of the importance of the continued operation of the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Station.

Here are the details:

Thursday’s Diablo Canyon support rally will be from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in front of the SLO County Government Center, 1055 Monterey St. Wear green in support of green nuclear power and to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.

Dr. Gene Nelson, government liaison for Californians for Green Nuclear Power who has served as a professor of science and engineering courses at several colleges, including Cal Poly and Cuesta College, recently published an Op-Ed in the San Luis Obispo Tribune titled Why we should keep Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant open.

Gene’s letter is an excellent example of the kind of message that citizens who understand the value and the benefits of nuclear energy need to share with their friends and neighbors.

Here are a couple of key quotes:

However, this beneficial plant needs your help, as a small number of very vocal people have attempted to instill fear, both locally and statewide, in an attempt to close the plant. The fearmongers’ emotional appeals have already helped close three other California nuclear power plants. You can help the cause of green energy by attending the second annual Diablo Canyon support rally on St. Patrick’s Day in downtown San Luis Obispo.
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To underscore the massive amount of power generated by the plant, in 2014, Diablo Canyon generated 131 percent of the power generated by all wind sources in California, or 161 percent of all California solar power.
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The Energy Commission recently commissioned a “study” regarding Diablo Canyon’s clean power not being needed to meet California’s clean air goals via a number of indefensible assumptions to reach that illogical conclusion. This suggests the commission’s “study” was more public-relations puffery than a factual analysis.
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SLO County supervisors should work with PG&E to significantly expand the plant’s reverse osmosis desalination plant and install a large-diameter water line from the expanded desalination plant to the South County (See David Sneed’s Feb. 21 article, South County water projects to be considered.) This would provide an extremely reliable and cost-effective source of water, not subject to the vagaries of climate. Permitting wouldn’t be a significant burden, as the reject brine is diluted to ordinary salt water levels as it is discharged to the substantial ocean water cooling stream before it leaves the plant. Obviously, the power to run this expanded desalination plant is abundant, cost-effective and emission-free.

A few weeks ago, the SLO Tribune published an editorial board piece titled How will San Luis Obispo County’s economy fare without Diablo Canyon?. That piece identified the major economic disruption that would occur if the existing units are shut down without being replaced. Here is the concluding paragraph.

Here’s our take: We support a study that would provide fresh insight and concrete suggestions to help the county through the financial fallout of Diablo Canyon’s closure, but we don’t see the need to run more numbers simply to make it appear officials are being proactive.

If Sacramento really wants to help San Luis Obispo County prepare financially for the closure of the Diablo Canyon Power Plant, it should focus on finding solutions, not on doom-and-gloom prognostications.

I sent the below letter to the editor. It was never published, perhaps because I live a few thousand miles away from the plant.

I read with interest the SLO Tribune editorial suggesting that future studies regarding the future of Diablo Canyon and San Luis Obispo County’s economy be framed to find solutions, not repeat the list of expected problems.

Here’s an out of the box solution proposal. Begin planning now for the construction and operation of units 3 and 4 of the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Station.

Despite the presence of several small faults discovered at convenient moments in Diablo’s history by oil-company employed geologists, the site has many attributes that make it a favorable location for new nuclear reactors.

It’s on an enormous body of cold water that helps improve its thermal efficiency. It has an already established plant site with good access roads, transmission lines, a protective cliff, and a well-qualified local work force.

The highest, best use for the site, the one that would provide the most positive economic impact would be a carefully planned and executed construction project for a pair of passively safe advanced light water reactors recently approved by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

There are several available designs, including the GE-Hitachi ESBWR and the Westinghouse AP1000. Start now while interest rates are low and time is available.

Vermonters say they want industrial wind to go the way of the billboard

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As a native of South Florida, I’ve probably logged at least a million miles driving on its interstate and U.S. highways. Most Americans have probably had at least a small taste of that experience.

The contrast between Florida’s highways and those in Vermont is stark; Florida’s are littered with billboards. They often advertise products or services that I would have preferred not to have to explain to my children when they were young. Vermont, a state with a deep streak of independence filled with people who love their farms, quaint towns and mountains, does not allow billboards. That makes motoring along their roads a completely different kind of experience.

This week, Vermont state Senator John D. Rogers (Essex County) introduced a bill that he hopes will make industrial scale wind turbines — the kind that have grown ever larger as producers seek the promised land of “economy of scale” — go the way of the billboard.

When he introduced that bill, he was accompanied by a boisterous crowd of supporters sporting high visibility green vests so that they could be readily seen and counted by other politicians at the session.

Aside: I really like the notion of high visibility garments in a public meeting to show support; the vests allow people who more comfortable in business-appropriate attire than tee shirts to be part of the gang. Nuclear supporters should consider employing a similar tactic at public meetings. End Aside.

The Ethan Allen Institute produced a short video of the highlights of the introductory speeches and the cheering, highly visible crowd of supporters.

I am sure some of my colleagues in energy will take the dismissive route of saying that Vermonters apparently don’t want any kind of energy development. They vehemently protested Vermont Yankee out of existence, are struggling to prevent high voltage transmission lines cutting through their forests and valleys, are fighting natural gas pipeline construction, and now are working to restore local control of land use so that they can halt industrial scale wind and solar energy development.

It would be more productive to consider opposition to competitive energy sources to be an opportunity for explanation and coalition-building. Gas pipeline expansion locks in a greater reliance on natural gas for decades. Industrial wind turbines and high transmission corridors really are intrusive and ugly. I certainly wouldn’t want them in my backyard and prefer, when possible, to keep them outside of my line of sight.

Aside: One of the mountains near my home has a transmission path scar that catches my eye everytime I walk through the neighborhood and every time I drive home. I understand the need to move power from place to place, but I’d like for us to work on improvements like underground distribution lines and appropriately-sized power stations that reduce long distance transmission while needing only occasional fuel deliveries. End Aside.

If people who oppose competitive energy developments are approached with kindness, respect and concern, it’s possible that many would be open to learning more about the benefits of compact, unobtrusive, virtually emission-free, and highly reliable nuclear power plants. Some of them might get excited when they find out about the new [again], innovative ways of applying fission power principles to produce smaller plants whose fuel lasts longer and produces even less waste than prior generations.

We have a great story to tell. Nuclear energy enthusiasm is permissible and contagious.

When you find people who are so passionately opposed to having their local area invaded by industrial wind developers that they attend protests and wear bright green vests, help them see that it’s worth their time to learn more about the ways that nuclear energy can help achieve their objective of clean, reliable power. They might love the idea that will be produced in a way that is almost completely out of sight.

Help them to realize why the characteristics of well-designed reactors and the safety record that trained nuclear operators have achieved should allow them to go back to their busy lives. It is okay for power generation to be out of mind as well as out of sight — once we have achieved a sustainable path of aggressive replacement of existing power stations.

As I think about it, maybe it isn’t a wise idea to allow most members of the public to put power generation too far out of their mind. Nuclear entrepreneurs and new industry leaders should plan on maintaining a program to remind people about the benefits nuclear fission power provides so that memories of the benefits more than balance reminders of the infrequent events that have happened and will occasionally occur in the future.

Diablo Canyon relicensing meeting – Musicians get top billing, but CGNP attracts press attention

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At the NRC’s August 5 public meeting on relicensing Diablo Canyon, a group of aging classic rock stars relied on their fading celebrity status to provide commentary and get their names into the press. David Crosby showed up in person, while Graham Nash, Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt and Bonnie Raitt sent in written comments. Their […]

Participation opportunity – Turkey Point EIS public meeting

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One of the most prolific anti-nuclear activist groups, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE), is distributing posts encouraging their followers to oppose FP&L’s plan to build two new reactors at the Turkey Point Power station. SACE is encouraging people to submit negative comments via the public comment process for the draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) […]

Agencies should not allow creation of a hostile environment at public meetings

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On February 19, 2015, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) transported a substantial contingent of regulators to Brattleboro, VT to hold a public meeting about Entergy’s Post Shutdown Decommissioning Activities Report (PSDAR) for the permanently shutdown Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. Brattleboro Community TV produced a video record of the event. Watching that video is […]

Shaping public perceptions of radiation risk

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Note: The below is part of a longer work in progress. Comments and corrections are greatly appreciated. On Monday, November 17, the US House of Representatives passed H.R. 5544, the Low Dose Radiation Research Act, which called for the National Academies to “conduct a study assessing the current status and development of a long-term strategy […]

Carnival of Nuclear Energy 130 – Best of the pronuclear blogs for week of Nov 10, 2012

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Update #2: (Posted at 1315 EST on November 11, 2012) Steve Aplin provided the following contribution from his insightful blog titled: Canadian Energy Issues Cities and power: revisiting Adam Smith’s Division of Labour Post blurb: Modern cities cannot function without electricity. That electricity is usually the product of other people from outside of the city, […]