For decades, Charles komanov has been an expert witness of anti nuclear power plant groups. His criticism was so effective that when tens of thousands of protesters came to Washington in 1979 due to the Three Mile Island nuclear leak, he won a seat on the podium of the rally. Komanov later became an indomitable opponent of Diablo canyon. This huge nuclear facility with a history of 37 years is located in the original area of California's central coast and has always been the focus of American anti nuclear activities.
The picture shows the Diablo Canyon power station, which used to be the center of the storm of anti nuclear public opinion
However, the content of komanov's last letter to California governor Gavin Newson in February was shocking. It was obviously something he had never wanted to write. He begged Newson to cancel the plan for the nuclear power plant.
"If we want to deal with climate issues, we will have to give up some of our long-standing beliefs," komanov said in an interview. "I am still an optimist of solar and wind energy. But I am a climate pessimist. The climate on which we live is losing."
Komanov's transformation reflects the rapid transformation of nuclear power politics. As governments race to end their dependence on fossil fuels and the war in Ukraine exacerbates concerns about energy security and costs, this long-standing controversial energy is gaining support from supporters because it makes no sense to close almost non emitting U.S. factories. This momentum is largely driven by long-standing nuclear skeptics who remain uneasy about the technology, but are now pushing to keep existing reactors running because they face increasingly shocking news of climate change.
The latest report issued by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on climate change in April warned that the world is so dangerously behind in climate action that it may exceed the key goal of controlling warming at a controllable level within a decade. Emission analysts are increasingly picky about the decommissioning of existing nuclear reactors because they take a large amount of low emission electricity off the grid and undermine the results achieved after the launch of resources such as wind and solar energy.
Despite persistent concerns about toxic waste and only a decade after the disaster at Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant, there has been a movement to keep the plant open. Public acceptance of nuclear power has grown and fostered an unlikely alliance, including industry participants, former anti nuclear activists and a group of young grassroots environmental activists who are more worried about climate change than nuclear accidents.