Monday, August 18, 2014

New to the Nuclear Industry, Advocating for the Future




Christina Baworowsky
When people ask me how I wound up working in governmental affairs at a nuclear energy trade association at the age of 22, they are usually surprised when I say it is because I wrote my thesis on nuclear power. When I was a senior in college, I decided that I wanted to answer a lot of questions I had about the role of nuclear power in America. Some students thought about writing about the founding fathers of the country, but I decided that the founding fathers of nuclear were way cooler. I began reading hundreds of articles that ranged from saying that nuclear power is dead in the United States to saying that we will soon have a nuclear renaissance.

I should probably backtrack by explaining why I like nuclear, and why nuclear matters to me. When I was young my uncle, who is a nuclear engineer, exposed me to the world of nuclear energy. He worked at Zion Nuclear Power Station in Zion, Ill. until it was decommissioned in the late ’90s. Unlike some kids who thought that nuclear power plants were like the negative image that The Simpsons portrayed, I knew from a young age that it was nothing like that and the plants were safe with highly skilled workers.

Statistically, the more a person knows about nuclear power, the more likely they are to support it. I support nuclear energy because I believe in it. There is no other source of energy that can provide baseload power any time of day in any weather with no emissions. I think we must expand nuclear in this country because it is the only real way to make a huge impact in cutting carbon emissions.

In my role at NEI, I support our governmental affairs team. I organize meetings for committees made up of other companies that are involved with nuclear power, I help coordinate events for DC’s chapter of U.S. Women in Nuclear and I also help all of our team members find the research and materials that they need to be effective lobbyists. On Capitol Hill, there is a constant battle for funding for research and construction and making sure that legislation benefits, not impedes, the nuclear utilities and suppliers.

So, how would I innovate in nuclear? I want to leverage my passion for this industry to influence views on Capitol Hill of what nuclear power facilities are like (clean, safe, efficient) and the way that our government views the role of nuclear in its energy portfolio (largest clean air source the nation has). I advocate for the expansion of nuclear programs and projects. I want a nuclear renaissance. It all starts by me getting my foot in the door and learning as much as I possibly can about energy policy in America. I may not be able to directly influence decisions today that will affect policy, but the hard work my NEI and industry colleagues and I are doing now will help us advance nuclear energy's future.

1 comment:

jimwg said...

Kudos for Christina Baworowsky! A role model for all!

PLEASE, Ms. Baworowsky, call Rod Adams at AtomicInsights for an Atomic Show interview!!!

James Greenidge
Queens NY