Anonymous submission to Unsalted Counter Info.
Foreward
Hi reader 🙂
So the structure of this zine might be kiiiiiiinda weird. Yes, it is about the Palisades nuclear plant and Whitmer/Holtec’s plan to restart it using massive amounts of taxpayer money. But in researching this zine, we found that we also wanted to engage with some of the larger questions of nuclear energy. After all, both parts of that topic (nuclear and energy) bring up some pretty existential stuff. Instead of dancing around that to try to find broader appeal or more narrowly focus on the sins of this particular plant (of which there are many), we wanted to look at the big-picture questions head on.
We hope to provide enough information for you to hate this plant as much as we do (and we also encourage you to look outside of this zine to learn more about it), but we also hope it gets you thinking about nuclear energy in the broader context of capitalism & colonialism.
The first part of the zine focuses on the basics of the plant, its decommissioning, and the plan to restart it. The remainder is a discussion of environmental racism, corporate negligence, labor issues, and degrowth in the context of nuclear energy, with a specific focus on Palisades.
Let’s envision a world where we see land, water, and air in terms of relationships; where we meet needs instead of manufacturing them; where we, collectively, share all the power.
Introduction: Spectre on the Water
I remember family trips to Lake Michigan as a child. We would camp with friends at Van Buren State Park, where we could bike down to the lake and step tentatively into her icy waves. We would boldly dive in, skin tightening against the frigid water. As we swam around, we would sometimes drift down the shoreline into the shadow of a bizarre, concrete facility.
It seemed so out of place amidst the dune grasses and mature maples. As we approached, we felt the waters get warmer. It was pleasant on our bodies which were working so hard to stay warm. But something never felt quite right about that building or those waters at its feet.
Maybe it’s the hindsight in knowing its dangers now, or maybe my intuition understood something the plant’s designers couldn’t seem to see. They had calculated the risks and our bodies, our lives, were within an acceptable margin.
______________________________________________________ Continue reading “New Zine: Palisades: the Dangerous Decommissioned Nuclear Reactor Reopening on Our Lakeshore”