Helsingin Sanomat (Finland) - A new generation of nuclear activists

By Senja Larsen

You can read (maybe, if you read Finnish! ;-)) the full article HERE.

Below is a translation - interesting that in a story about “nuclear bros”, us women are translated as “he” and “his” since there are no gender pronouns in Finnish.

Protesters defending nuclear power will make an impact online in the 2020s. The number one enemies of the so-called nuclear power brothers are environmental organizations and supporters of solar and wind power.

IN AUGUST 2020, millions of people in California lost power, and the entire power grid threatened to collapse.

The world of nuclear defenders changed overnight.

"We had been like a ship without a rudder. At that point, the laws of physics began to write the script,"Carl Wurtz says. He is the president of Californians for Green Nuclear Power, an organization founded by Californians.

In 2018, California announced that it would transition to carbon-free electricity generation by 2045. Emissions requirements for combustion engine vehicles were tightened, the state invested billions in solar and wind power, and venture capitalists poured money into clean energy companies.

"Nuclear power was combined with nuclear weapons. I didn't see any difference between them, the image was that the power plant would explode and there would be a mushroom cloud."

Carl Wurtz

In 2020, renewable production was already a significant part of energy production.

The state's electricity prices were still the highest in the United States, and the region was increasingly vulnerable to power outages, and the amount of carbon dioxide emissions did not show a drastic reduction. A large part of the electricity was still dependent on gas.

This year, electricity consumption history was made in California again. The biggest consumption spike in history happened in the heat of the hottest days of September.

The residents turned the air conditioning to full.

The collapse of the power grid for nearly 40 million residents of California was close again.

LOCAL media started writing that California is rising along with Germany, for example, on how not to switch to renewable energy.

The challenge is that the sun doesn't always shine and the wind doesn't blow all the time. In Germany, there is already a term for the problem, "dunkelflaute" describing dark quiet times.

The experts emphasized that periodic solar and wind energy needs to be accompanied by adjustable production of gas and hydropower, stable production of nuclear power, and disruption reserves for batteries and consumption flexibility.

“Governor of CaliforniaGavin Newsom realized that the state cannot survive without a nuclear power plant," continues Carl Wurtz.

The shutdown of the state's last nuclear power plant, the 40-year-old Diablo Canyon, was postponed.

It was a huge victory for nuclear supporters.

The decision resulted in arguments, barking, and activists being called "Nuclear Bro" or nuclear power brothers.

"I'm the original nuclear power brother," 64-year-old Wurtz describes himself.

HE has seen campaigning throughout its lifetime.

Wurtz grew up amid nuclear power plants in 70 percent carbon-free Chicago, the cleanest energy metropolis in the country.

Moving to California in the 1970s was a shock.

"Here it was thought that 'we all die'."

California's Flower Power generation trusted flower power and were suspicious of government and technology.

The first nuclear power plants in the United States were built in the 1950s, but questions about safety and waste storage, as well as the accidents at Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and later Fukushima, turned public opinion against the technology.

"Nuclear power was combined with nuclear weapons. I didn't see any difference between them, the image was that the power plant would explode and there would be a mushroom cloud."

Wurtz suspects that the fossil fuel lobbies who spread the fear of nuclear power were pulling the strings in the background.

"In the world, uranium is sold for six billion and coal for 890 billion a year. My career is a drop in the bucket of big business."

A NEW generation of nuclear activists are organized in Whatsapp groups and in the global organization Stand up for Nuclear. You can meet them on different platforms of the social media network and the discussion forum on Reddit's r/nuclear forum.

They are often highly educated, science-based white men, grassroots influencers and billionaires.Bill Gatesin, By Jeff Bezos mixedElon Musk'stechno-optimists like

31-year-old biology studentPhil Ord readily admits to being a nuclear bro.

"Enemies are actually everyone who spreads unwarranted fear of technology."

Phil Ord

"I'm rough on social media. People need to be made angry that nuclear power has been ignored just when we should be fighting to overcome the climate crisis."

Ord has campaigned for nuclear power for nearly ten years and runs the Americans for Nuclear Energy organization.

He names environmental organizations as the nuclear power activist's worst enemy.

"Enemies are actually everyone who spreads unwarranted fear of technology."

If the construction of nuclear power had continued at the pace of the 1960s and 1970s, the US energy grid would have been carbon-free in 2020, he reminds.

Now nuclear power is being discussed, and quality information and multimedia are finally available, he says and sighs.

"More and more people are becoming aware that wind and sun can't do everything."

In Ord's opinion, the young generation is ignorant of nuclear power, but neither is it culturally afraid of it.

"The anti-nuclear movement is drowning and disintegrating under scrutiny."

The change in thinking is beginning to be seen in society.

Nuclear power was profitable five years ago43 percent of Americans,now the amount isalready grown by half.

Among the nuclear power activists, there are also those who think that one hundred percent of the energy should come from nuclear power, but for Ord, about 80 percent would be enough.

He considers the huge price tags for building power plants and the rigidity of regulations to be a challenge in reaching the goal.

The United States is losing the know-how to build nuclear power plants.

"The whole industry needs to be restarted. Once you start building these, you shouldn't stop. The more there are, the more affordable it is to set up."

Ord admits he is turning anti-wind and solar.

"They take attention away from how carbon neutrality can actually be achieved."

A TORONTO-based emergency physician and founder of Canadians for Nuclear PowerChris Keefer, 40, is annoyed by being called nuclear brother.

"We really kick ass, win struggles and challenge petro-dictators - without industry funding."

Chris Keefer

"If someone calls me a nuclear bro, I take that as rude misanthropy," says Keefer.

In his opinion, it is a way to silence, punish and marginalize those who speak about it.

"We should be judged on the quality of the claims," ​​insists Keefer.

The slur, he says, is now used to describe any group of misbehaving white millennial men.

Keefer runs a popular weekly podcast about nuclear energy, speaks at events and participates in pro-nuclear demonstrations around the world.

"I read studies and talk to experts."

In Keefer's opinion, all fossil energy sources should be abandoned and hydro and nuclear power should be relied upon.

There are currently 92 nuclear power plants operating in the United States, which provide the country with approximately twenty percent of its electricity production. That's more than half of low-carbon electricity. In Finland, the share is slightly higher, a third (33 percent) of the electricity produced in our country was produced in 2021 with nuclear energy.

A dozen American reactors have been decommissioned in the last ten years. The missing electricity has largely been replaced by burning fossil fuels. The pace could lead to as much as a 4-6 percent increase in carbon dioxide emissions from the US energy sector by 2035.

The sled is turning, and the winning streak of nuclear power plants is starting, Keefer enthuses.

California's Diablo and Toronto's Pickering in Canada were saved, as were Illinois' Byron and Dresden, he lists.

"Of course, activists and demonstrators played an important role. We really kick ass, win struggles and challenge 'petro-dictators' - without industry funding."

Organizations opposing nuclear power also depend on him with budgets of millions.

“Why can't we just get along. Wind and solar need nuclear power alongside, why can't the environmental group admit that?"

Keefer considers nuclear waste and safety issues to be the biggest misunderstanding in history.

"I don't think there is a bigger gap between experts and the general public in any single issue."

YDINVOIMA's expert activists include a 32-year-old master's student in radiation safety trained by the US Navy's nuclear power unitDJ LeClear.

"You can't throw away an old working thing for a shiny new toy."

DJ LeClear

LeClear's channel of influence is above all Tiktok, where he makes videos that appeal to nuclear fears. In them, he deals with topics such as dirty bombs, accidents and radiation.

In his opinion, the biggest misunderstandings are related to the waste problem and the risk of explosion.

"People don't realize that the waste of the energy used by one person throughout his life is a ceramic pellet the size of a beer can in a metal tube."

Nuclear waste has its dangers, but so do carbon dioxide emissions, which come from oil, natural gas and coal. Air pollution alone kills eight million people a year.

Another misconception is that a stray missile would cause the reactor to explode like a bomb. According to him, that cannot happen, and this is a consequence of the quality of the uranium.

The bombs have high-activity uranium, while the power plant has low-activity uranium, he explains.

"The bomb is designed in such a way that the mass stays together until an explosion occurs. The low-active mass of the power plant doesn't even try to stay together. An explosion is not physically possible."

Nuclear power should be increased and quickly, but in LeClair's opinion, small power plants are not a solution.

"We have to start with those power plants that know how to build and that are approved by the regulations. You can't throw away an old working thing for a shiny new toy."

"Nuclear power is the forgotten hero of the energy crisis."

Paris Ortiz-Wines

US men are about twice as likely to support nuclear power as women, but there are also women in the group.

"We are increasingly academic and younger and definitely not just men", Stand up for NuclearParis Ortiz-Wines, 28, emphasizes on a video call screen during his trip to Asia.

Ortiz-Wines says young people need hope, and laments that solar and wind have gotten all the love and support.

"Nuclear power is the forgotten hero of the energy crisis."

He urges the general public to follow science, get to know the facts and be realistic.

"The best nuclear power brothers are women", accompanies the Mothers for Nuclear organization, which has gained fame in the United StatesHeather Hoff, 43.

A necklace made of uranium glass hangs around Hoff's neck.

Heather Hoff

Hoff grew up in a family that emphasized responsibility and found it natural that an environmental activist opposes nuclear power.

Then he studied engineering and applied for a job at the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant. After a dubious beginning, Hoff learned to respect safety systems and noticed that the energy production method also best drives the realization of environmental goals.

A necklace made of uranium glass hangs around Hoff's neck.

"The pendant is a great conversation starter, because radiation is everywhere in nature."