Climate Coalition interviewed about progressives’ support for nuclear power
A Baltimore Sun journalist reached out in early July to the Climate Coalition to discuss what she saw as “growing support for nuclear energy as a way to meet climate and decarbonization goals.” She interviewed Valerie Gardner, Climate Coalition’s founder, and they discussed the trends that have driven an evolution in thinking about nuclear power. The resulting article reported on a portion of their conversation while also covering the anti-nuclear side.
Those of us who have been advocating for nuclear power for years (or even almost a decade), know that there’s been an enormous shift in public attitudes about nuclear power. Positive nuclear news and developments have been on the ascendancy, while negative press has largely disappeared. In contrast, news about climate change and its enormous costs and human toll has gotten increasingly dire. The fact that nuclear power provides a powerful antidote to our dependence on fossil fuels has clearly contributed to the growing support for nuclear energy. It is also why so many large tech companies are suddenly in the market for nuclear energy: they need power but also need to meet their decarbonization goals.
We all know that it took a lot of largely volunteer work building and executing dozens of pronuclear campaigns, speaking at conferences, writing and tweeting, and holding one-on-one conversations by dozens of people involved in the pronuclear community, before we saw the shifts start. But, with energy experts and national lab support, sentiments among Democrats and Progressives—particularly those concerned about climate change—began to change. It really seemed to pivot during the Biden Administration, which steadily made the case for nuclear power to be included in the broader solution set for climate.
The Biden Administration’s strong upport, and particularly the billions funded through the IIJA, provided the financial justification needed by Gov. Newsom to save Diablo Canyon. The public rallying for nuclear energy in San Luis Obispo—where all the pronuclear folks showed up—providing the visible evidence of the rising public support for Diablo Canyon—provided the voter and ratepayer cover that allowed Newsom to reverse his previoius stance and expend political capital getting the California legislature to approve SB 846. This was the very start of the new era for nuclear power, as it was nade clear that public sentiments—including that of leading progressives—had finally shifted in support for nuclear power.
Positive developments, including the “Nuclear Necessity” report issued by Bank of America with a “Buy” recommendation for nuclear stocks and many other developments, built on the shift in California. Today, support for nuclear is in the majority anong nearly all demographics. Rather than debating why or why not to close nuclear power plants—as had been the case when the Climate Coalition was founded—public discussion has shifted to how to get more nuclear power. We are now discussing why or why not restart nuclear power plants; how to complete partially finished power plants; and where and how to build many more new nuclear power plants, including advanced nuclear, which is seeing increasing investor and government support.
We’re not seeing any meaningful arguments or voices raising the same old tired tripes, which have been addressed time and again. Nuclear power, it seems, has substantially prevailed in the marketplace of ideas as well as by the largest energy buyers on the planet (if not with the stalwart antinuclear sorts or the financially-conflicted environmental groups). Although the Trump Administration opposes climate action per se, in fact their ardent support of nuclear power and efforts to see the industry expand, could provide the impetus that is needed to get next-gen technologies commercialized, so that new nuclear plants can finally supplant dirty fossil energy.
Thus, with all of this progress, it is fascinating to see that some journalists are just catching on and finding this “flip” in attitudes to be newsworthy. Effectively reporting on what has been increasingly happening for several years as if not completely evident.
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The Baltimore Sun, From ‘No Nukes’ to Nuclear Now: The progressive energy flip, Lorraine Mirabella, July 14, 2025. (Behind a paywall.)
The same article reposted by Yahoo.com: From ‘No Nukes’ to Nuclear Now: The progressive energy flip, by Lorraine Mirabella, with no paywall, July 16, 2025.