Exploring the problems with Small Modular Nuclear Reactors
By Kelly Campbell, Policy Director
Columbia Riverkeeper explores the problems with “new” nuclear power, why it is not part of a just transition to a clean energy future, and why siting more nuclear power plants on the Columbia River should be a non-starter in our webinar, “What’s the Deal with New Nuclear Power?”
Our panelists included:
- Leona Morgan (Diné), an Indigenous organizer who has been fighting nuclear colonialism since 2007.
- M.V. Ramana, author of the new book “Nuclear is not the Solution: The Folly of Atomic Power in the Age of Climate Change.”
- Joshua Frank, author of Atomic Days: The Untold Story of the Most Toxic Place in America
- Moderated by Kelly Campbell, Policy Director, Columbia Riverkeeper
Leona Morgan (Diné, she/her) is an Indigenous organizer who has been fighting nuclear colonialism since 2007. Leona is a co-founder of Haul No!, an initiative to stop Energy Fuels’ Pinyon Plain uranium mine near the Grand Canyon and related transport between the mine and the White Mesa uranium mill. Leona collaborates with affected community members in the Southwest, nationally, and internationally on issues across the uranium fuel chain. Leona is a graduate student pursuing a Master of Community and Regional Planning, focusing on Indigenous Planning, at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque.
M.V. Ramana is the Simons Chair in Disarmament, Global and Human Security and Professor at the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. He is the author of “Nuclear is not the Solution: The Folly of Atomic Power in the Age of Climate Change” (Verso books, 2024), “The Power of Promise: Examining Nuclear Energy in India” (Penguin Books, 2012), and co‑editor of “Prisoners of the Nuclear Dream” (Orient Longman, 2003). He is a member of the International Panel on Fissile Materials (IPFM), the International Nuclear Risk Assessment Group (INRAG), the Canadian Pugwash Group, and the team that produces the annual World Nuclear Industry Status Report. He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Leo Szilard Award from the American Physical Society.
Joshua Frank (he/him) is an award-winning environmental journalist and managing Editorial Director of CounterPunch. Most recently, he is the author of Atomic Days: The Untold Story of the Most Toxic Place in America (Haymarket Books) and co-author of The Big Heat: Earth on the Brink (AK Press). He is currently wrapping up a new book on the impacts of the world’s energy transition for Haymarket Books.
If you missed the webinar, you can check out the recording here:
Resources and Links:
- Read more and donate to the Haul No! Campaign
- Learn about the campaign to save the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act
- Watch Virtual Teach In by Haul No!: Understanding the Limitations of Colonial Sovereignty Nov 6, 2024 5 p.m. Pacific Time
- Watch Columbia Riverkeeper’s webinar with Joshua Frank: Investigative Journalist Breaks Down Hanford: A Conversation with Joshua Frank
- Read: “Nuclear is not the Solution: The Folly of Atomic Power in the Age of Climate Change by M.V. Ramana
- The Rise and Fall of NuScale: a nuclear cautionary tale OpEd by Kelly Campbell
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Nuclear Power: a False Solution to the Climate Crisis
Despite major drawbacks to nuclear energy, the nuclear industry, propped up by the Inflation Reduction Act and other federal support, is recklessly plowing ahead with its wasteful spending to build new nuclear reactors, including near the Columbia River. We need your help to stop them.