Demystify Blog

Photo Credit: Britannica 

Viktoria Vetrov stands in her kitchen with a jar of fresh cow milk. Photo Credit: Associated Press

By Maggie Gundersen and Sue PrentWe at Fairewinds think it’s time to further reframe the conversation around nuclear energy and the myths and misconceptions it perpetuates. For far too long, spin doctors within the nuclear energy industry have successfully obscured bad news about their product by carefully controlling the language chosen for public consumption.

by Sue PrentEmergency Planning Today Means "Duck and Cover" and Hope for the BestBaby boomers might remember “duck and cover”, the U.S. government’s official emergency plan to protect elementary school students from atomic warfare during the Cuban Missile Crisis. With nervous laughter, some may recall anticipating the worst and the absurdity of teachers’ instructions during school drills to “duck” under their tiny wooden desks and “cover” themselves from nuclear holocaust.

by Sue PrentToday we live in a world that pushes limits, even necessary ones. When it comes to fostering industrial and economic growth, we humans have the tendency to become blinded by the assurance of big business and lose sight of what is really at risk.Pressure to feed global appetites for expanded energy capacity while supporting an ongoing industrial growth imperative leaves two critical obstacles that are grossly underestimated in the current energy planning paradigm for fossil fuels and atomic power.

written by Maggie Gundersen, President of Fairewinds Energy Education“Water makes life as we know it possible. Every drop cycles continuously through air, land, and sea, to be used by someone (or something) else ‘downstream.’ Water covers 70% of Earth’s surface, but only 3% is fresh, and only a fraction of one percent supports all life on land. Climate change and growing populations are increasing the pressures on that reserve.

written by Sue PrentThursday, November 6, was a day for much rejoicing in the U.S.

written by Sue PrentWith a giant blot still reading over the page of its public safety record, the multi-national, multi-billion dollar atomic power industry faces  the stark economic reality that without even more of the regulatory and financial support that it has long enjoyed, it cannot successfully compete financially with sustainable methods electrical generation.Moreover, these preferential government regulations and incredible financial subsidies from countries around the world are more concerned with maintaining a nuclear energy fleet that

 written by Sue PrentNovember 2015 is an election month at many locations in the United States.

photo by Arkadiusz Podniesinski, Fukushima Exclusion Zone, an abandoned supermarket left in disarray with radioactively contaminated food and goods