Excellent Book Regarding Diablo Canyon Advocates Will be Released on April 8
Reserve your copy today
I’ve been reading my advance release copy of Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow’s new nonfiction book Atomic Dreams - the new Nuclear Evangelists and the Fight for the Future of Clean Energy regarding advocates for Diablo Canyon Power Plant (DCPP) extended operations. Since I know many of these advocates, I can vouch for Rebecca’s reporting. (I’m one of those profiled in the chapter, The Guy in the Headband.)
Here’s the flyleaf blurb:
The inside story of how nuclear energy—long considered scary, controversial, and even apocalyptic—has become the hot topic of the climate debate, and perhaps a vital power source of the future
On June 21, 2016, Pacific Gas & Electric Company announced a plan to shutter California’s last nuclear power plant, Diablo Canyon, in 2025. The plan was hailed by environmental groups and politicians around the country. Then, in 2022, the state’s Democratic establishment suddenly reversed the decision, and in 2024 the Biden-Harris administration awarded the plant $1.1 billion in credits to extend its life. What happened in between?
In Atomic Dreams, journalist and lifelong environmentalist Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow unearths the surprising answers—and the deep-seated conflicts behind them. She follows the fascinating and lively cast of characters who are immersed in the fight over Diablo Canyon and nuclear energy, among them a world-renowned climate scientist, a fashion model turned “nuclear influencer,” and two radically opposed groups of mothers, both fiercely advocating for the kind of planet they want their children to inherit. And she chronicles how nuclear power has morphed from the stuff of cinematic nightmares—associated with world-ending weapons and terrifying meltdowns—to a rare issue with strong bipartisan support.
Tuhus-Dubrow takes readers to nuclear plants and research facilities, to the halls of Congress and into the streets with activists as she explores the big questions wrapped up in the nuclear debate: questions about risk and responsibility, about nature and technology, about whether humans should be humble caretakers of the Earth or audacious innovators. She explores how these issues affect real people’s lives, and personally grapples with the viability of this controversial energy source. Can the power of the atom be freed from its historical baggage and reinvented? Could something that once threatened to doom us now hold the potential to save us?
Rebecca’s print edition book is 256 pages in length. Here are more particulars as of April 4, 2025:
Best Sellers Rank: #501,362 in Kindle Store
#39 in Nuclear Physics (Kindle Store)
#197 in Nuclear Physics (Books)
#303 in Conservation
This Amazon link to the Kindle version of the book also provides a preview of most of the first 66 pages of her book so you may read it yourself. https://www.amazon.com/Atomic-Dreams-Nuclear-Evangelists-Future-ebook/dp/B0DFW7H1GQ/
I will have more to say next Tuesday.