I totally support nuclear power, but I don't believe its detractors (although mistaken and overly cautious) are necessarily out to drive the world into a new dark age just to satisfy their Romantic pastoral fantasies. This is the fantasy of those who find the dialogue and compromise of a democratic society personally inconvenient. Remember, the environmental movement used to support nuclear power as the clean alternative.

The grass-roots opposition to nuclear power is a reaction to the past unconcern and arrogance of the industry, and the way it misrepresented its product and its drawbacks, and its failure to properly recognize the legitimate objections and concerns about it. They have still not addressed these concerns, (particularly the establishment of a fuel cycle infrastructure and the management of wastes), they expect the government to just step in and solve the problem for them, and the public to pick up the tab.

The cons of nuclear generation are technical issues and have technical solutions. This could be properly and persuasively communicated to opponents of the technology if they were brought into the dialogue as allies, not enemies, and treated as responsible adults, not lumped in together with wackos and obstructionists and dismissed with disdain and derision. The industry isn't necessarily guilty of this, but many of its supporters are. (See the related post on "snarking" on Community.) In this toxic environment, it's no wonder opportunist wackos and obstructionists flourish.

When I returned from my nuke public relations gig overseas, I ran into some Lyndon Larouche supporters at the airport viciously slamming the anti-nuke groups with the most reprehensible lies and slanders. I had my own reservations about the outfit I worked for, but they were never as irresponsible and obnoxious as these people. When I challenged them, and identified myself and my affiliation with the industry, they hastily packed up their materials and left the terminal.

Unfortunately, in today's polarized political environment, this type of confrontational behavior, which attempts to link all behaviors it deems objectionable under one convenient label of disdain, seems to be becoming more the rule than the exception.