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  1. Rod,

    Thank you for doing this and for sharing this. I wish I had done something.

    Your post reminded me of the day I handed out pro-Vermont Yankee flyers in the lobby outside of our Town Meeting, here in Vermont. I was surprised at the number of people who thanked me, or told me they thought nuclear is the future of energy. Or said they had a brother in the nuclear Navy, or had a daughter who works at MIllstone etc. It was very heartening!

    Great post and thank you again!

    Meredith

    1. Sorry. Sept. 27th. Is the closing event for climate strike. #StrikeWithUs event. (Another typo. Got out of the wrong side of the bed today.)

  2. Thanks for reporting on your pro-nuclear protest action, Rod. I was not able to get on the streets for ClimateStrike, but plan to on the 27th. However, I did get a letter to the editor published in our local paper on the 21st. It addressed the scientific majority opinion of the need for nuclear; the seeming hopelessness of climate change; the inability of lifestyle change to have a meaningful impact; the need for ramping up innovation and deployment of effective decarbonization technologies; building on the success of nuclear, our largest zero-emission energy source; supporting Carbon Fee and Dividend to provide a market signal to the clean energy industry, and calling your elected officials. It ends with the line, “Make the calls. Support clean energy innovation and carbon pricing. It’s your smartest climate move.”

    My “Fight Climate Change With Nuclear Power” T-shirt is coming out next week!

  3. Rod, I gave a 45 min talk in a Quaker community, Kendal at Hanover, where I live, though I’m not a religious person. It was well received. A retired Episcopal bishop thereafter had me speak to his reading club, which has just finished Goldstein’s new book, A Bright Future.

  4. I am a Quaker and I have spoken in meeting about the expansion of nuclear power being essential to address climate change. I also talk with people individually, which may help some rethink long held concerns. Quakers are really quite diverse in their beliefs and views but many, if not most, have formed negative opinions based on old fears and misinformation.

    1. @Greg Gundlach

      Thank you for your comment and for seeking to help your community better understand the value of nuclear energy. I guess I was not very clear in my post. I did not mean to imply that all Quakers are opposed to nuclear energy. But the man who spoke made sure everyone knew he was a Quaker and implied that his religious convictions played a role in his antinuclear position.

      1. The description in your post echoed many conversations I have had with friends and Friends in recent years.
        Unlike many in my social and religious spheres, my perspective was shaped by science.
        My father, Robert W. Gundlach, was a physicist who passionately believed in innovation.
        Quaker practice has a foundation in listening, but unconscious bias can make it hard for us to hear clearly.

  5. So,…..Bernie Sanders is not a friend of those who wish to retain / expand nuclear power. Politicians cover many subjects and cannot be experts in all areas. They have to rely on the expertise of others and also have to cater to the wishes of their constituents. How much impact would a letter or series of letters written to a politician like Bernie have? It appears that politics is at a turning point in this country and perhaps if nuclear proponents such as yourself got their message to the right people maybe they would be willing to take another look at this clean unlimited power source.

    1. Bernie Sanders was a huge backer of the socialist regime in Venezuela.

      A large fraction of the population of Venezuela has either left the country in search of basics like food, or is trying to.  Anyone who looks at Bernie Sanders as anything other than a dangerous kook needs to have their head examined.  That Vermont elected him to the Senate is a stain that everyone there should be forced to confess and atone for, starting by repudiating all of his policy positions.  Whoever and whatever he ever said he is for, his policies are destructive to everything and should be treated like possible anthrax.

      1. You may be right, but helping the sick, the poor the needy,…….well,…….they do all seem like good old American values. I do kind of like a lot of what he says. Next checkup, I’ll ask about my head.

        Now, how about the question. Mr. Poet is it possible for you to write the proper prose to convince Bernie and other crazy Congresspersons to reconsider their views on nuclear power? Do you think it makes a difference?

        Thanks for responding.

      2. helping the sick, the poor the needy,…….well,…….they do all seem like good old American values.

        Everywhere they’ve achieved power, these people PRODUCED poverty and need in vast quantities.  Venezuela used to be a rich country.  Now go hop on YouTube and search for “Venezuela crisis” and see what you find.  This is ALL the product of “socialism”, putting the productive assets of the country in the hands of people without a clue about how to make them work, who consequently destroy them.

        Mr. Poet is it possible for you to write the proper prose to convince Bernie and other crazy Congresspersons to reconsider their views on nuclear power?

        No.  They are part of what amounts to a religious cult, and religion is not something can be argued rationally.  If that was the case, every last environmental organization would stand behind the Sierra Club’s original motto:  “Atoms Not Dams”.

  6. Please check this articles:
    Are nuclear power plants expensive to build compare to any other energy source? A Myth or Reality  https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/nuclear-power-plants-expensive-build-compare-any-other-kondakalla/
    Which Energy Source Wins a Marathon Race and a Sprint Race? https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/which-energy-source-wins-sprint-race-marathon-kondakalla
    My main aim is to remove this misconception on nuclear by comparing all energy sources. To make it easy for even general public to understand. Hope you might like it and please share. 

  7. Dear Rod Adams,
    Your Podcast is great. I am also a US Navy Vet – E-6 FTM Terrier. Served 6.5 years-extended 6 moths to finish a WESPAC USS Gridley CG-21 1982. I was thinking of going Subs but went advanced Electronics vs Nuclear and chose the surface Navy which could have been Nuclear like the Bainbridge-CGN-25 or Truxtrun CGN35 or Long Beach CGN9. I have never been a Anti, but studied utility based RE @ UMASS Lowell earned a BSEE. It was when I worked at A123Systems, building 0.5 MW*Hr, 900,000 26650 Cells filling a 54′ trailer, that is really stated to understand RE limitations. Attended NRC — AS&LBP Public Comment on 2019-09-23 @ Newburyport, MA Seabrook Station ASR

    Anti-Nuclear, Douglas Foy, former president and CEO of the Conservation Law Foundation, led the fight in court to shutter the Seabrook Project. Seabrook 1 was built, but 22% completed Seabrook 2 was canceled. This, and other lawsuits, doubled the Cost of Seabrook. Thirty years later, Foy says Seabrook 1 needs to stay up and running, recognizing its emission-free generation.

  8. Net-Zero Carbon Dioxide Emissions By 2050 Requires A New Nuclear Power Plant Every Day, Forbes, Date: 30/09/19, Roger Pielke Jr. The article is well worth reading.

    Now do the math for obtaining that amount of power from Wind/Solar and then determine how many Wind turbines and Solar panels are needed. Then determine how many acres of land are needed. How much tillable agricultural land will be covered?
    Meanwhile China and India will have doubled the amount of coal plants.

  9. This is an interesting, practical description of the two groups in the “real climate debate”, although perhaps you didn’t realize it, Rod.

    You, of course, are solidly part of the first group: the ACT (Apolitical/Confident/Technical) group. The other group, the ASP (Anxious, Social-Justice, Partisan) group, consists of the people I have been warning about for years. As I have been saying, and as the article I linked to above points out, “they are a big part of the problem, not the solution.”

  10. What role do you think solar and wind can play? Do you have solar on your roof or an electric car? Interested to hear your thoughts. Thank you.

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