At one time, when he lived in the shadow of southwest Michigan's Palisades nuclear power plant, former business owner, author, and employee communications guru Shawn Connors opposed nuclear energy. But then he decided to do his own research and discovered that the horror stories in the media that had convinced him nukes were dangerous were just plain wrong.
That's when he founded the Atomic Garage Movement, which uses the arts to help convince people that nuclear energy is safe, clean, and reliable.
He has also written both a nonfiction educational book and a fictional novel that both help tell the real story of nuclear energy (links below!)
He joined us for Episode 96 to tell us all about his conversion, and why he believes we should ditch all the arbitrary deadlines for replacing our electricity generating stations, stop retiring our coal and gas plants, and instead embark on a program to replace them when their production lives end with nuclear plants.
And about Palisades? He's revved up to see it reopened, and thinks it can help make Michigan a nuclear center for the nation.
Here are the links:
Books:
Non-fiction: The Quick Read Nuclear Energy Guide: 21 Easy-to-Understand Q&As - https://www.amazon.com/Quick-Nuclear-Energy-Guide-Understand-ebook/dp/B0CH8MNNH4?ref_=ast_author_dp
Novel: Chain Reaction: A Story About Power in the Age of Climate Change -
https://www.amazon.com/Chain-Reaction-Story-Climate-Change/dp/B0CGLH8M1P/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
Article that I read that first flagged Shawn's work for me: https://www.bridgemi.com/guest-commentary/opinion-wind-solar-arent-enough-case-palisades-nuclear-plant
Atomic Garage Movement site: https://atomicgaragemovement.com/