SOUTH OGDEN -- The director of legislative and community affairs for EnergySolutions Inc. is passionate about defending nuclear energy as a clean, safe resource.
Bette Arial gave a spirited presentation about nuclear power and storage to a group of about 20 at a Tuesday night meeting hosted by the Women's Legislative Council of Weber County.
Arial said she believes EnergySolutions is the most written-about and reported organization in Utah.
"We get more front-page coverage, more than the LDS Church, which is often controversial, more than gay rights, which is highly controversial -- even the Bureau of Land Management is controversial," she said.
"I could go on and on, but somehow, we trump them all. We top the list."
That's because of misperceptions created by depictions of nuclear power gone bad in popular culture, from "The Simpsons" to "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" to "The China Syndrome," Arial said.
Biased news media often are at fault as well, she said, for perpetuating falsehoods about EnergySolutions' work storing low-level radioactive material.
Myths persist about Utah's Downwinders, Russia's Chernobyl incident and the incident at Pennsylvania's Three Mile Island nuclear power plant, Arial said, but other energy methods also carry risks and create pollution.
"There are dangers to being alive. There is a danger in getting in your car and coming over here tonight. There is a danger getting in your bathtub and having someone knock the hair dryer in," Arial said.
"There are just dangers to everything, but the danger to this power production is not greater than those dangers you are around, mainly because the science understands time, distance and shielding."
Despite the benefits of nuclear power she described, Democrats and Republicans alike are shameless in politicizing the issue, Arial said.
Beverly Dalley, of Ogden, listened to Arial's presentation.
"I was sympathetic with the Downwinders," she said. "I've been kind of against nuclear use because it did so much damage to the people of Utah. We didn't kill a single Russian, but we damaged thousands of people in Utah. I'm not an expert, I just would like to find out a little bit more about it."
William Reese, of Ogden, said he is a retired Navy man. The U.S. Navy has been safely operating nuclear-powered ships and submarines for decades, he said.
"I found it very informative," he said of Arial's presentation. "I wish there was a way we could get the correct information out into the general public. The public is just not being informed.
"The only thing they're being informed of is the people who, in their own self- interest, want to promote the fear of storage."
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