I also used to wonder why people like myself and Rod Adams and Howard Shaffer were defending nuclear plants, and the industry itself was overly silent. Rod helped me figure out that there is no "nuclear industry." The biggest companies in nuclear tend to be utilities that own nuclear plants. Those companies ALSO own fossil and renewable plants. So they aren't going to push nuclear. As another friend said: you don't shoot yourself in one foot to make the other foot feel better.
The startup nuclear companies don't own any other type of plant. So they can be clear advocates.
In generall, big companies don't like anybody but their spokespeople speaking for them. When I was a project manager at EPRI, if a reporter asked me a question, I referred the reporter to our PR department.
The companies get stung when somebody who works there and is VERY enthusiastic about a project talks to a reporter. And then the article that comes out is something about how the company is not doing enough with this project, it could save the world, etc.
Utilities can't actually block free-lance advocates (as I was).
The adjacent firms may get only part of their funding from nuclear. They may work with all sorts of utilities, and not want to be anti-coal or pro-nuclear or whatever.
I agree with Meredith Angwin regarding the P.R. problem for utilities with both nuclear and fossil. Constellation Energy (CEG,) the biggest owner of nuclear power plants in America owns 21 reactors. Their share price has done well The firm was spun off on January 21, 2022 at $45.00 per share. CEG closed at $178.24 on March 22, 2024 with a market capitalization of $56.44 billion. I look forward to more positive nuclear power P.R. from CEG. I will prod my CEG contact.
Thank you, Ken. The multi-billion dollar annual revenues of the "Anti-Industry Industry" are truly breathtaking. Nuclear power advocates have a long way to go to achieve parity.
Definitely something worth doing. The average person's only insight into energy is the electric bill and renewables media - getting your voice to the people and selling your benefits is the name of the game these days.
Emmet: If you were to place a caption on the article's graphic, what would it read? I magnified it and learned that the stickers on the front bumper of the truck are illegible.
None of the Nuclear Industry incumbents have any idea how to do this. The culture has been so thoroughly beaten down that they don’t even know they have the muscles anymore. That is why most of the stuff they put out is corporate style dross that looks like technical training videos from the late 1990s complete with an announcer that sounds like Kent Brockman.
The problem is that they don’t even know what to ask for or who they could hire and nobody can likely make the internal business case because of the culture. Believe me, corporate culture in blue chip firms is HARD to change. It’s not just nuclear either- how long have Exxon and Chevron sat around watching the climate lobby eat their lunch?
Crazy thought… maybe you make a pitch to GEH or Westinghouse directly?
More lunacy, Emmet: Following up on his successes in closing coal plants, Michael Bloomberg has now vowed to shut down the U.S. petrochemical industry, which, in addition to making lifesaving fertilizer, makes plastics and packaging. According to the New York Times:
While the new campaign, (which Michael Bloomberg is funding) called Beyond Petrochemicals, has scored a few wins, the petrochemicals business is booming and highly profitable, and plastics remain cheap and in demand. And the industry is fighting back with its own counter effort: Beyond Bloomberg.
The New York Times article then extols the virtues of petrochemicals and the petrochemical industry before interjecting a caveat:
Petrochemicals remain an essential part of modern life, used to make clothing, cars, electronics, fuel and fertilizer, not to mention solar panels and other equipment needed in the transition to cleaner energy sources. There are no easy substitutes for most of the products, and the heavy global demand means that if chemical and fertilizer plants aren’t built in the United States, many will instead simply be built in other countries that may have weaker regulations to protect workers and the environment.
But the petrochemical industry is also a major source of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that are dangerously warming the world.
Michael Bloomberg no doubt understands petrochemicals' life-enhancing and lifesaving benefits, especially nitrogen fertilizers, and that billions of people will die without nitrogen fertilizers and the lifesaving plastic products that hospitals depend on to deliver lifesaving health care. But what is more important to Michael Bloomberg is “climate change” that he believes is being caused by petrochemicals:
During a recent interview at the headquarters of Bloomberg LP, the financial data company that has given him an estimated net worth of $96 billion, Mr. Bloomberg said he was trying to help slow climate change, which he regarded as an existential threat to humanity.
“If there’s something that can destroy the Earth and kill all living people (referring to petrochemicals), then it’s hard to argue you shouldn’t focus on that,” he said. “I want my kids, your kids, to be able to have a life.”
Why can't I get a plastic shopping bag when everything I put in there at the supermarket is wrapped in plastic and I believe I had to carry it out in a paper bag which I read is about three times more energy intensive and I feel like I'm carrying out a tree??
Hi Emmet,
I also used to wonder why people like myself and Rod Adams and Howard Shaffer were defending nuclear plants, and the industry itself was overly silent. Rod helped me figure out that there is no "nuclear industry." The biggest companies in nuclear tend to be utilities that own nuclear plants. Those companies ALSO own fossil and renewable plants. So they aren't going to push nuclear. As another friend said: you don't shoot yourself in one foot to make the other foot feel better.
The startup nuclear companies don't own any other type of plant. So they can be clear advocates.
I see that.
But don't you think it's weird Westinghouse is so quiet? Especially after Vogtle?
Or that sometimes utilities block advocates from interacting with nuclear in a positive way?
Or that there are adjacent firms (I'm trying not to name names) that seem to be complete uninterested in any kind of PR work?
At this stage in the game, it's very strange to me.
In generall, big companies don't like anybody but their spokespeople speaking for them. When I was a project manager at EPRI, if a reporter asked me a question, I referred the reporter to our PR department.
The companies get stung when somebody who works there and is VERY enthusiastic about a project talks to a reporter. And then the article that comes out is something about how the company is not doing enough with this project, it could save the world, etc.
Utilities can't actually block free-lance advocates (as I was).
The adjacent firms may get only part of their funding from nuclear. They may work with all sorts of utilities, and not want to be anti-coal or pro-nuclear or whatever.
I agree with Meredith Angwin regarding the P.R. problem for utilities with both nuclear and fossil. Constellation Energy (CEG,) the biggest owner of nuclear power plants in America owns 21 reactors. Their share price has done well The firm was spun off on January 21, 2022 at $45.00 per share. CEG closed at $178.24 on March 22, 2024 with a market capitalization of $56.44 billion. I look forward to more positive nuclear power P.R. from CEG. I will prod my CEG contact.
I am dumb I bought at 130
You are still turning a significant profit.
On March 27, 2024 CEG was at $185.16. 30 days ago, it was at $155.16. 6 months ago, it was at trading at $109.32.
The PR resource mismatch is breathtaking whether you look up to orbit or even just terrestrially at the nonprofit sector...
https://capitalresearch.org/article/annual-revenue-of-opponents-of-carbon-free-nuclear-power-exceeds-2-3-billion/
Thank you, Ken. The multi-billion dollar annual revenues of the "Anti-Industry Industry" are truly breathtaking. Nuclear power advocates have a long way to go to achieve parity.
Definitely something worth doing. The average person's only insight into energy is the electric bill and renewables media - getting your voice to the people and selling your benefits is the name of the game these days.
Emmet: If you were to place a caption on the article's graphic, what would it read? I magnified it and learned that the stickers on the front bumper of the truck are illegible.
It was generated with AI, so all the logos are made up nonsense.
I just asked it for a nuclear semi roaring through Texas as painted by Frank Frazetta.
LOL!
None of the Nuclear Industry incumbents have any idea how to do this. The culture has been so thoroughly beaten down that they don’t even know they have the muscles anymore. That is why most of the stuff they put out is corporate style dross that looks like technical training videos from the late 1990s complete with an announcer that sounds like Kent Brockman.
The problem is that they don’t even know what to ask for or who they could hire and nobody can likely make the internal business case because of the culture. Believe me, corporate culture in blue chip firms is HARD to change. It’s not just nuclear either- how long have Exxon and Chevron sat around watching the climate lobby eat their lunch?
Crazy thought… maybe you make a pitch to GEH or Westinghouse directly?
More lunacy, Emmet: Following up on his successes in closing coal plants, Michael Bloomberg has now vowed to shut down the U.S. petrochemical industry, which, in addition to making lifesaving fertilizer, makes plastics and packaging. According to the New York Times:
While the new campaign, (which Michael Bloomberg is funding) called Beyond Petrochemicals, has scored a few wins, the petrochemicals business is booming and highly profitable, and plastics remain cheap and in demand. And the industry is fighting back with its own counter effort: Beyond Bloomberg.
The New York Times article then extols the virtues of petrochemicals and the petrochemical industry before interjecting a caveat:
Petrochemicals remain an essential part of modern life, used to make clothing, cars, electronics, fuel and fertilizer, not to mention solar panels and other equipment needed in the transition to cleaner energy sources. There are no easy substitutes for most of the products, and the heavy global demand means that if chemical and fertilizer plants aren’t built in the United States, many will instead simply be built in other countries that may have weaker regulations to protect workers and the environment.
But the petrochemical industry is also a major source of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that are dangerously warming the world.
Michael Bloomberg no doubt understands petrochemicals' life-enhancing and lifesaving benefits, especially nitrogen fertilizers, and that billions of people will die without nitrogen fertilizers and the lifesaving plastic products that hospitals depend on to deliver lifesaving health care. But what is more important to Michael Bloomberg is “climate change” that he believes is being caused by petrochemicals:
During a recent interview at the headquarters of Bloomberg LP, the financial data company that has given him an estimated net worth of $96 billion, Mr. Bloomberg said he was trying to help slow climate change, which he regarded as an existential threat to humanity.
“If there’s something that can destroy the Earth and kill all living people (referring to petrochemicals), then it’s hard to argue you shouldn’t focus on that,” he said. “I want my kids, your kids, to be able to have a life.”
Why can't I get a plastic shopping bag when everything I put in there at the supermarket is wrapped in plastic and I believe I had to carry it out in a paper bag which I read is about three times more energy intensive and I feel like I'm carrying out a tree??