We interviewed four students from the East Coast, hailing from New Jersey, New York, Virginia, and Massachusetts.
Before I asked you to read some articles, had you ever heard of the Monticello or Prairie Island Nuclear Plants?
“I had not. “The only nuclear plants that I was aware of were the ones that had pretty big melt downs.”
When you read about the Prairie Island Nuclear Power Plants, what did you learn about it and what do you think about it?
”Mostly, the thing that stuck out to me [when I was reading about the
plants] was that both power plants were on the Mississippi River.” Seems to me like a risk of contamination. I did not see much about the Prairie Island Nuclear Plant.”
Do you think that nuclear energy is a feasible direction for sustainable energy development?
”I like the idea of it being a cleaner source of energy, but it is something that is still very scary because it is very new and like the risk of radiation and radioactivity is very scary and there is this whole like not in my backyard thing, like you don’t want a nuclear power plant close to you.”
-Chloe (18) Montclair, NJ
Whenever you were looking up both of these plants, was it easier to find information about Monticello or Prairie Island? Or vice versa?
“Um, I felt like Prairie Island, yeah, it was more focused on the fact that it was a reservation and stuff. I looked up Monticello and that definitely had more information on the power plants. It also had more information on Thomas Jefferson, but I think that’s unrelated.”
Do you think that nuclear energy is a feasible direction for sustainable energy development?
”Um, I mean I don’t know that much about alternative sources of energy. I’m like kind of a windmill fan, um but I don’t know how that it can like be the equivalent of a nuclear power plant in terms of output. I don’t know alternatives, but I think that there are definitely better things.
Lastly, would you want to live next to a nuclear power plant?
”I will pass.”
Any reason why?
“Chernobyl.”
-Anonymous (18), New York City, NY
Do you have any prior knowledge on nuclear energy? If so, where did it come from?
“My prior knowledge would be from my dad. He works in environmental conservation, land conservation, and he’s very anti-nuclear energy because of the toxic byproducts. Um so I’d say before coming to Macalester, I probably would have been like would have seen eye to eye with him on that. Um now I am definitely pro I I would say that’s mostly been informed by actually Sophie [her friend], my boyfriend, Paul, whose family’s from Germany.”
-Catherine (19), Falls Church, VA
Do you have any prior knowledge of nuclear energy? So where did it come from?
“I once did a debate in freshman year of high school about how nuclear bombs were bad. I don’t know, probably Wikipedia.”
What do you know about the history of nuclear energy in Minnesota? If so, where did you get this information?
“I don’t know anything about the history of nuclear energy in Minnesota.”
-Mae (20), Boston, MA