NEI Nuclear Notes

Now that we're in the first few days of the period of extended operations for Indian Point Unit 2 , local anti-nuclear activists are doing their best to turn up the heat. After a smattering of events last week, they've decided to haul out one of the big guns in the form of actor and periodic anti-nuclear activist Alec Baldwin . On Friday night, Baldwin, who is scheduled to begin hosting a Friday night talk show on MSNBC later this month, will take part in a panel discussion about Indian Point at Rockland Community College -- an event that will double as a fundraiser for the Radiation and Public Health Project, an organization run by Joseph Mangano. Readers of NEI Nuclear Notes will probably recognize that name. Mangano continually attempts to draw a straight line between nuclear power plant emissions and negative health impacts. Mangano makes these claims despite the fact that nuclear power plants only account for .1% of the radiation that a typical American is exposed t...

We like Alec Baldwin, from his younger days playing both gentle fellows (as in Beetlejuice) or more frequently as a sleazy type (as in Married to the Mob and Malice). He seemed to just miss the boat, almost but not quite graduating to A-list status and the nineties were not kind to him. But he acquired considerable good will anyway, by reconfiguring himself as a comic actor and moving into television. In some ways, he may be a model for young actors who have talent but not quite enough starriness to stay in the top tiers of show business – that is, if actors aren’t replaced with 3-D simulacra. His career suggests there are all kinds of paths that can keep an actor afloat and even thriving. One thing Baldwin likes to do, and has for a long time, is pontificate on the issues of the day – he’s been reported to have an interest in politics, though it seems to have faded – and The Huffington Post has proven a reliable place for thoughtful Hollywood folk to share those thoughts. But n...

Chip Gerrity, President of the New Jersey International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers , was at the "forum" and shares his thoughts: The event moderated by actor Alec Baldwin, for reasons that are completely unclear to the writer, was attended by those that oppose the re-licensing of the plant and pretended to be an open forum for discussion. However, nothing could be further from the truth. There were three individuals permitted to speak in support of Oyster Creek and nuclear power in general. The first was a teenage girl who was cut off in mid-sentence when she questioned the validity of the research that was presented by Mr. Baldwin and others as irrefutable. She was allowed to speak for approximately a minute, prior to the moderator cutting her off completely. The young woman, who was attempting to exercise her constitutional rights, was visibly upset and essentially ran back to her seat. The next pro Oyster Creek speaker was heckled and left the microphone. Finally Ed...

Last night Alec Baldwin moderated a forum on the health effects of the Oyster Creek nuclear plant in New Jersey. From APP.com : Actor Alec Baldwin said he would like to see the state force the owners of the Oyster Creek Generating Station to build cooling towers to replace an outdated boiling water reactor system. ... "This is one of the truly complicated issues I've ever dealt with,'' Baldwin said. Um, replacing cooling towers is not the same as replacing a BWR system. If he thinks that is the case, then I can see why he thinks this is a complicated issue. I wonder if Mr. Baldwin can locate the cooling towers in this diagram of a BWR system. Hint: the towers are not there . I could get more into this but I think the comments on the article speak for themselves : Just because he is a celebrity, people put a microphone in front of him, and just because someone put a microphone in front of him he thinks he is an expert on all things. ... Alec Baldwin has no business spea...