Skip to main content

The ANS Social Media Meetup


When NEI launched NEI Nuclear Notes almost seven (!) years ago, the nuclear energy blogging landscape was rather bare, as was our blogroll. The term "social media" was still on the horizon, Faacebook was still in its infancy, and not everyone inside our own organization was convinced that starting a blog -- whatever the heck that might be -- was an altogether good idea.

As I was walking into a conference room at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington last night for a no holds barred discussion on social media sponsored by the American Nuclear Society, I had to wonder out loud what anyone had been afraid of in the first place. So, while there was a time when we were so happy to find a blogger who supported nuclear energy we started a regular feature, it was nothing but standing room only in that hotel conference room last night.

As you might imagine, the debate was freewheeling, which it couldn't help but be when you stuff 60 or so bloggers into the same room for a couple of hours. And while we had our differences on style, there was a lot of substantive agreement in the room -- especially when it came to the value of sticking up for the industry and taking on our adversaries.

Thanks to Dan Yurman, chief cook and bottle washer at Idaho Samizdat for pulling the event together. NEI was flattered to be asked to co-sponsor the event with our friends from AREVA. Needless to say, we look forward to more freewheeling discussions with our friends.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

An Ohio School Board Is Working to Save Nuclear Plants

Ohio faces a decision soon about its two nuclear reactors, Davis-Besse and Perry, and on Wednesday, neighbors of one of those plants issued a cry for help. The reactors’ problem is that the price of electricity they sell on the high-voltage grid is depressed, mostly because of a surplus of natural gas. And the reactors do not get any revenue for the other benefits they provide. Some of those benefits are regional – emissions-free electricity, reliability with months of fuel on-site, and diversity in case of problems or price spikes with gas or coal, state and federal payroll taxes, and national economic stimulus as the plants buy fuel, supplies and services. Some of the benefits are highly localized, including employment and property taxes. One locality is already feeling the pinch: Oak Harbor on Lake Erie, home to Davis-Besse. The town has a middle school in a building that is 106 years old, and an elementary school from the 1950s, and on May 2 was scheduled to have a referendu

Why Ex-Im Bank Board Nominations Will Turn the Page on a Dysfunctional Chapter in Washington

In our present era of political discord, could Washington agree to support an agency that creates thousands of American jobs by enabling U.S. companies of all sizes to compete in foreign markets? What if that agency generated nearly billions of dollars more in revenue than the cost of its operations and returned that money – $7 billion over the past two decades – to U.S. taxpayers? In fact, that agency, the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank), was reauthorized by a large majority of Congress in 2015. To be sure, the matter was not without controversy. A bipartisan House coalition resorted to a rarely-used parliamentary maneuver in order to force a vote. But when Congress voted, Ex-Im Bank won a supermajority in the House and a large majority in the Senate. For almost two years, however, Ex-Im Bank has been unable to function fully because a single Senate committee chairman prevented the confirmation of nominees to its Board of Directors. Without a quorum

NEI Praises Connecticut Action in Support of Nuclear Energy

Earlier this week, Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy signed SB-1501 into law, legislation that puts nuclear energy on an equal footing with other non-emitting sources of energy in the state’s electricity marketplace. “Gov. Malloy and the state legislature deserve praise for their decision to support Dominion’s Millstone Power Station and the 1,500 Connecticut residents who work there," said NEI President and CEO Maria Korsnick. "By opening the door to Millstone having equal access to auctions open to other non-emitting sources of electricity, the state will help preserve $1.5 billion in economic activity, grid resiliency and reliability, and clean air that all residents of the state can enjoy," Korsnick said. Millstone Power Station Korsnick continued, "Connecticut is the third state to re-balance its electricity marketplace, joining New York and Illinois, which took their own legislative paths to preserving nuclear power plants in 2016. Now attention should