Nuclear Power for Journalists with a Bias

The Society of Environmental Journalists (or SEJ) is an organization whose members "envision an informed society through excellence in environmental journalism."

In an era where the term "media bias" is thrown about as liberally as flour in an authentic Italian pizzeria, it is good to find that there exists an organization whose vision and mission is to help dispel this image. Part of that effort involves an annual conference, which this year is being held in Roanoke, Virginia, and according to their web site will have a session taking up the controversial issue of nuclear power.

This session, entitled "Nuclear Power - from Ore to Volts" is aimed at demystifying nuclear power for the journalist by looking at the “five stages in the life of nuclear power: mining, processing ore, enrichment of uranium to commercial or weapons grade, fuel fabrication, and utilization in a nuclear power plant.”

It sounds like a great idea, except when you look at the list of speakers for this session. Representation from the “volts” side – that is, a speaker from an actual commercial nuclear power station or utility – is notably absent. Notably present, however, are antinuclear spokesperson Linda Gunter from Beyond Nuclear and David Lochbaum from the Union of Concerned Scientists.

It looked to me like an innocent oversight until I contacted Roger Witherspoon, session moderator and journalist, who claims to be neutral on nuclear. In our phone call, Mr. Witherspoon had a lot to say about nuclear energy, listing one problem after another as if it were straight out of an antinuclear handbook, then ended by stating he wasn’t antinuclear. After reading some of his articles and comments since our phone conversation, I'm not so sure.

In the end, it didn’t seem to make a difference that the deck was stacked against nuclear energy in this Ore to Volts presentation. In fact, after our phone call, it seemed intentional. When I pointed out that there was no one from the nuclear industry or even a nuclear utility on the panel, he responded that they were going to tour the Areva facility in Lynchburg, and since Areva runs nuclear plants in France, that was representation enough.

In Virginia, Areva provides vital engineering support to the station, but they don’t operate the power plant, perform nuclear station environmental monitoring, participate in emergency preparedness exercises, or manage the utility, nor are they professional spokespersons for the nuclear industry who can provide a balanced perspective against the likes of Linda Gunter and David Lochbaum. No offense to the very capable and knowledgeable folks at Areva, but a “tour” of the Areva facility is no substitute for including a spokesperson from the nuclear power production side in the speaker line-up.

In the end, Mr. Witherspoon curtly dismissed my concerns and defended the speakers list as a fair and balanced representation of the topic.

For an organization whose goal it is “to advance public understanding of environmental issues by improving the quality, accuracy, and visibility of environmental reporting,” this session seems to be in direct conflict with that goal.