Washington DC CBS Workshop

What better place to host a workshop on used fuel storage than the capital of our country, where policy is studied, made, enforced, and hopefully changed. We are in a stalemate with plans for managing nuclear fuel, with every path forward being illegal. This needs to change. Thankfully, for the first time in many years, nuclear energy is receiving bipartisan support.

With this in mind, our team converged on Washington DC on July 12 to host a workshop targeting nuclear professionals, leaders in government, think tanks, and the politically minded or nuclear curious general populous.

Team photo featuring Grant Mills from DOE

Arriving in our nation’s capitol a day early allowed our MfN team (this time, just Fereshteh) to meet Eric Cothran from Nuclear Innovation Alliance (NIA) in the morning and Jasper Gilardi and Ness Perry from Envoy Public Labs (EPL) for brunch. It was great meeting everyone and talking about their work supporting nuclear energy. NIA’s technical and legislative information is an incredible resource. Eric was impressed by Mothers for Nuclear’s humanistic approach, especially loving Madi’s pregnant photo with a spent fuel cask. We are excited to see how we can support each other in the movement to bolster nuclear energy.

Coffee with our EPL friends was similarly delightful. All three of us are originally from California. We shared about our advocacy and engagement work in general, the Collaboration Based Siting program, and EPL’s work in the next step of the Expression of Interest. They also had some insight on various tribal and nuclear conflicts, especially in Utah, foreshadowing one of our later CBS engagements. In addition to the inspiring work of supporting nuclear energy in the US, getting to know other young nuclear professionals was great for Fereshteh’s visit. Both Ness and Jasper were able to attend our Saturday CBS workshop. 

Fereshteh with Ness Perry from Envoy Public Labs at our workshop

Our venue was just a few blocks from the White House and the National Mall. With a few hours to spare before our team planning meeting, Fereshteh got to explore.

Fereshteh exploring during the heatwave

24/7 anti-nuclear weapons peace vigil held in front of the white house constantly since 1981

Last stop before dinner

The Native Nuclear team visited the Museum of the American Indian during their free time.

Heather also visited the museum on a previous trip. When having conversations with native groups, its important to learn and connect.

Native Nuclear invited a nuclear engineering policy PhD student from the University of Michigan, Riley Fisher, to our planning dinner. He was a great addition to our discussion with lots of great questions, getting us some practice for the morning.

The morning of our workshop came with lots of excitement. We had our highest registration yet and had to add a few chairs to the room to make sure there was room for everyone.

We once again had a varied audience, with people working in industry, DOE employees, students, curious citizens who saw our fliers at metro stations and libraries, policy advocates, retired industry members, a teacher, medical professionals, and even a Sierra Club member.

Lisa Marshall giving the opening and introduction (Photo by John Dobken)

Fereshteh giving the MfN portion of the presentation, her first time on her own. She did great and handled the Q&A nicely!

Being in DC, our nation’s capitol, people’s questions seemed much more policy focused.

Eric Cothran’s, NIA, executive order summaries were incredibly helpful for fielding some of these questions. It was useful review to help address questions about the country’s nuclear focus. Native Nuclear also had the opportunity to meet with DOE representatives the day before, providing new context for the ever-changing collaboration based siting program. Overall the whole room was curious and engaged, even answering some of each other’s questions.

At Lunch, Fereshteh had the pleasure of sitting with Riley as well as the Sierra Club attendee. This was a great opportunity as our guest from the Sierra Club was happy to share her thoughts on the workshop. She came with a bit of an anti-nuclear sentiment, but was much more open to nuclear energy after seeing our presentations. She appreciated greatly that in our opening statements we actively clarified that we were not trying to sell anyone on nuclear power nor spent fuel. Mothers for Nuclear as an organization has an obvious pro-nuclear leaning, that is not hidden in our presentation. However, throughout our workshop we clarify our goals and emphasize our interest in genuine community engagement. This guest came in skeptic, was able to genuinely engage in the conversation and ask questions, and came away with the thought that a lot of peoples’ fears of nuclear energy and waste management might come from misinformation. They also expressed that they learned some of the downsides of other energy options that they hadn’t heard of before.

After a very successful workshop and before her delayed return flight, Fereshteh actually got to spend an afternoon catching up with friends from college. This put a delightful little bow on the theme of community building during this weekend in DC. In just 3 days Mothers for Nuclear built connections to other nuclear support organizations, collaborated with our CBS team, advocated for and listened to community voices at the CBS Workshop, and enjoyed lasting friendships.