From ‘No Nukes’ to Nuclear Now: The progressive energy flip

A partial meltdown at Three Mile Island nearly years ago pushed Gene Stilp into a life of activism starting with a march on the Capitol he helped organize that drew demonstrators and appearances by Joni Mitchell Jackson Browne and Graham Nash At Stilp is still at it now protesting Baltimore-based Constellation s plans to restart a reactor at the Harrisburg-area power plant one not involved in the accident in a deal with Microsoft Stilp who has lived nearby for decades started Stop TMI Restart last fall The group has about members We are two generations away from the accident that happened at Three Mile Island explained Stilp who accused Dauphin County Pennsylvania executives in an April lawsuit of failing to safeguard residents fitness and safety People have forgotten that nuclear power stands for dedicated dead zones with nuclear waste People who are environmentalists have forgotten about all these things that their parents and their grandparents used to know The new generations are not up to speed on nuclear power But as Bob Dylan once sang the times they are a-changin As Maryland and other states push for clean air amid rising power demand advocates increasingly see nuclear potency as a key cost-effective surroundings answer Leading the push in Maryland is Democratic Governor Wes Moore who is backing policies to endorsement new technologies touted as safer more efficient and more versatile than traditional reactors Valerie Gardner a California environmentalist argued that anti-nuclear stalwarts are refusing to focus on the goals of reducing carbon emissions She reported that too several focus on renewables such as wind and solar while rejecting nuclear The founder of the nearly -year-old Surroundings Coalition announced she has come around now taking on fights to keep nuclear plants open including Diablo Canyon California s last nuclear power plant It was just complete insanity and stupidity to try to close a large reliable source of clean potential commented Gardner who called out anti-nuclear activists holding -year-old gripes stemming from fearmongering promulgated by groups to make the population afraid They lost the fight and the plants were built but they continued to carry the flag all this time she declared In its -year-old history it s the safest known power we ve ever had with no trash and fewer deaths than those caused by fossil fuels Anti-nuclear movement evolved as executives look to lower costs meet goals The No Nukes movement that grew out of anti-war protests in the late s has ebbed and flowed expanding from weapons to potential and gaining followers after nuclear disasters such as Fukushima Shortly after Stilp helped organizers of s Coalition Anti-Nuclear Rally in Washington reported to be the largest anti-nuclear protest at the time Bruce Springsteen joined Musicians United for Safe Resource in the fall of for Madison Square Garden s No Nukes concerts By the mid- s natural gas had gained favor as a cleaner more plentiful vigor source causing assets in nuclear plants to decline In Maryland bipartisan lawmakers have focused on rising vigor costs and want to encourage new power generation in the state Moore who backs expanding nuclear has reported the state has not gone far enough to generate power to hit its targets Moore disclosed in mid-June various proposals that did not make it into potency bills would have allowed more nuclear into the state that would have allowed nuclear to be seen as a clean vitality source which it is adding we need to be able to do more Senator Mary Beth Carrozza a Republican member of the Instruction Ability and the Milieu Committee sees opportunities to address the weather dilemma as more and more people understand nuclear power is reliable clean and safe There s a recognition by the general residents that with the challenges we re facing in Maryland with the power predicament we have to take an all-of-the-above approach We cannot rely on wind and solar to make our goals Groups like the Clean Air Task Force founded in the late s to highlight the dangers of coal power are now pushing for nuclear force policies in both the community and private sectors Their focus is on lowering costs speeding up progress and addressing challenges faced by older nuclear plants The organization is exploring how state and federal governments can expand nuclear force in the majority of cost-effective options including upgrading or restarting retired facilities Beyond renewable strength such as wind and solar it will take advanced nuclear advanced geothermal and other technologies to achieve a carbon free grid stated John Carlson a senior regional program manager for CATF particularly given the requirements of industries such as transportation and utilities looking to control costs for rate payers while meeting decarbonization goals We see nuclear strength as a proven equipment that can help meet atmosphere and decarbonization goals in the United States reported Victor Ibarra senior manager for CATF s advanced nuclear vitality effort He noted it will take a wide suite of technologies beyond nuclear power to effectively and efficiently produce the next electricity grid of the following morning Upgrades at plants in Maryland elsewhere John Phillippi a nuclear engineer at Constellation s Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant in Lusby oversees the high-security plant as director of operations The two-reactor facility originally owned by Baltimore Gas Electric began operating in and and was rebranded Calvert Cliffs Clean Capacity Center last year During a plant tour Phillippi reported Constellation is evaluating upgrading the plant to expand limit a highly costly and years-long process to plan for and rebuild the turbine and steam-producing side of the operation Locking in long-term customers is one way Constellation and other nuclear operators have been able to do that Operators in the control room monitor and run the plant A tour of the Calvert Cliffs Clean Power Center nuclear power plant in Lusby Maryland Paul W Gillespie Staff Other types of modifications have altered Calvert Cliffs from its earliest days making it more efficient reliable and safer he mentioned In the plant s -hour control center reactor operators monitor flat panel displays touchscreens and automatic alarm functions The right side of the room is dedicated to Unit while a mirror image on the left side monitors Unit Equipment in the center links to the switchyard which controls power on its way to customers Thousands of facts points filtered through computers and alarms can detect changes in any of our systems that would alert the operators to an early indication of something they need to take action for Phillippi declared Gardner the founder of Context Coalition announced it s imperative to allow nuclear plants not only to stay open but expand like Calvert Cliffs A equipment entrepreneur Gardner began to embrace nuclear after she d spent tens of thousands of dollars in to install solar panels but her power bills still weren t covered I began to realize we can t put this enormous weather problem and its solutions on the backs of individual residents she disclosed When she unveiled two-thirds of all clean power came from nuclear my jaw just dropped I didn t even imagine that nuclear was clean Future of nuclear vigor Gardner announced the No Nuke opposition to nuclear power may have shifted last year when Constellation signed a -year deal to supply electricity to Microsoft facts centers in the mid-Atlantic by restarting Unit at Three Mile Island now known as the Crane Clean Ability Center That news might have been the inflection point where people realized this anti-nuke thing is just wrong and that arguments against nuclear are not based on fact not based on details Gardner disclosed Last month Constellation signed a similar deal with Meta the owner of Facebook Instagram and WhatsApp to power artificial intelligence instrument with nuclear power for years at its Clinton Clean Power Center in Clinton Illinois about miles southeast of Chicago Those deals come amid growing demand for artificial intelligence that has big device companies and facts center operators rushing to lock in long-term clean power sources Information centers require a consistent and steady electricity supply and have increasingly turned to nuclear for dedicated power Such deals continue to be opposed by activists who argue electricity goes to far-off evidence centers not consumers near a plant Such groups include Harrisburg-based Three Mile Island Alert which was founded in two years before Unit came online and experienced a partial meltdown Calvert Cliffs Clean Strength Center Unit steam turbine A tour of the Calvert Cliffs Clean Force Center nuclear power plant in Lusby Maryland Paul W Gillespie Staff The partial meltdown the worst nuclear power plant accident in the U S started about a m March with a mechanical or electrical failure in the non-nuclear section of the plant that prevented pumps from sending water to the steam generators leading to a reactor shutdown according to the U S Nuclear Regulatory Commission The NRC commented small radioactive releases had no detectable vitality effects on workers or the populace but opponents have challenged findings in court Coincidentally the film The China Syndrome depicting a nuclear accident had been circulated just weeks earlier It provided additional fodder for the No Nukes movement along with another film s Silkwood based on the true story of a nuclear plant worker who was possibly murdered after raising concerns about radiation safety practices For its part Three Mile Island Alert announced its advocacy has brought about improvements in communication safeguard and evacuation plans In its the greater part contemporary battle the group wants to stop Constellation s plan to restart the plant s Unit which was restarted in and then shut down for economic reasons in TMI Alert advocates for the phasing out of both nuclear and fossil fuel power generation arguing that enough renewable strength and storage projects are under consideration in the regional grid Eric Epstein the group s chair announced he has the same concerns now as years ago Nuclear power is an economic boondoggle Epstein stated I thought then as I do now there s nowhere to store the waste Nuclear has rebranded itself as renewable which is crazy The industry over time has subdued the populace into believing that by putting green gift wrapping on toxic waste makes it an attractive alternative Have a news tip Contact Lorraine Mirabella at lmirabella baltsun com or -