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Introducing Left Atomics

By Eric McErlain
For a long time now, we've contended that nuclear energy shouldn't be a left/right issue. Thanks to folks like N. Nadir, we've found that there are folks who agree.

Make room for one more: Left Atomics:
Left Atomics is a group of left activists: socialists, progressives, Marxists, etc., who believe that nuclear energy can be a positive force for humanity. We propose that the Left, broadly speaking, should support, not oppose, nuclear energy.

We will be posting here a Manifesto for Nuclear Energy that we hope can be the basis of a discussion on the left among pro- and anti-nuclear activists. We feel that by and large there has been only knee-jerk opposition to nuclear energy by the left. Few have re-examined the technology of nuclear power production, the enormous changes that have been made in operating safely old plants since 3 Mile Island and Chernobyl and the newer Generation III plants currently under construction or being proposed.
Count us as another party ready to engage in some meaningful dialogue. Welcome to the debate.

Thanks to Rod Adams for the pointer.

CORRECTION: The link to N. Nadir's diary on DailyKos has been corrected.
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Comments

Anonymous said…
Is this group funded by the industry, a la CASEnergy?
March 22, 2007 at 3:03 PM
Anonymous said…
Eric: You have the wrong link for me. My diaries at Kos - most of which are about nuclear power but also discuss other subjects - embrace the perspectives shared by many Democrats, can be found here:

http://www.dailykos.com/user/NNadir

I am advising Democrats that many of their goals depend upon having clean safe energy and that the cleanest and safest energy available in nuclear energy.

I certainly hope I'm not being included among the Marxists or Socialists, since I am neither and have explicitly stated as much over at DKos. Frankly I don't have much patience in any case for arguments about social systems and whether nuclear power alone among energy systems must solve structural social problems.

Generally I am suspicious of labels, since almost all of them generate knee-jerk reactions. Some words of this type are "progressive," "liberatarian," "free marketeer" even words like "Democrat," "Republican," etc, even words like "environmentalist." Now, I will not tell you that I am above such reactions myself - I'm not - but it's sometimes less than useful.

I think that no matter how one identifies oneself, one must above all think critically. To think critically, among other things, one must examine the case itself rather than who is stating the case and how he or she is identified.

But your point is well taken. No part of the political or economic spectrum can ignore the benefits of nuclear energy. They are, or should be obvious at this point, obvious.

This is a time of dramatic change, I think, and we're going to see quite a bit of flux with the old labels and some surprising attitudes coming from some surprising people. There is really nothing wrong with that. If a formula doesn't fit a problem, it follows that the problem doesn't go away. Thus the formula, not the problem, needs to be changed. Put another way, more familiar to those with a scientific bent, if experiment doesn't fit theory, it is time to discard - or at least refine - the theory, not the experiment.

-NNadir
March 23, 2007 at 2:05 PM
Anonymous said…
Should we expect to start seeing groups like "Atomic Power Enthusiast" (APE) or "Cocker Spaniel Owners for More Radioactive Waste"... what's your point?
Gunter, NIRS
March 23, 2007 at 5:27 PM
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