Dear friends of clean nuclear energy,

For your information, here's an interesting article about pro-nuclear ecologists who have changed their opinions, and vice versa.
http://bravenewclimate.com/2011/04/15/who-has-changed-their-mind/

The article shows that, taking the long view over a period of a decade, say, and even after Fukushima, there are very few if any prominent pro-nuclear individuals or movements which have become anti-nuclear, with the possible exception of Angela Merkel.

Meanwhile, some dozens of prominent anti-nuclears now favor nuclear energy, out of ecological or climate considerations. 

So it's environmentalists for nuclear energy, as represented by EFN, who are progressing rather than the anti-nuclear groups. 

And this movement has been little affected by Fukushima.

To remind you, AEPN(EFN) was created in France in 1996 after the publication in 1995 of Bruno Comby's  Un écologiste pour le nucléaire  which was reprinted under the provocative title  Le nucléaire avenir de l'écologie?  [Doesn't the future of ecology lie with nuclear power?].  Then in 2000 an English version with preface by our friend James Lovelock was published under the title Environmentalists For Nuclear Energy.

There followed a long chain of conversions of anti-nuclears to pro-nuclears. First among them, in 2004, the Anglican Bishop of Birmingham, Hugh Montefiore (1920 -  2005) who had been Trustee of the anti-nuclear and historic Friends of the Earth  for 20 years; he was read out of that organization on becoming pro-nuclear.

In 2005 it was Patrick Moore, one of the co-founders of Greenpeace in 1971 and an international director for 9 years; then one after the other Stewart Brand (Whole Earth Catalog), Stephen Tindale (also Greenpeace), and many others named in Barry Brook's article.  

George Monbiot, a well-known British journalist and environmentalist, changed sides after several discussions and public debates with EFN over the years, notably several on-air discussions on BBC, starting in 2004.

Some environmentalists still hesitate to speak publicly in favor of the ecological benefits of nuclear energy, even though their personal opinions are basically pro-nuclear; one example is Nicolas Hulot in France. Others have no qualms about speaking of the environmental advantages of nuclear power;  Jean-Marc Jancovici, or Dr Jean-Louis Etienne in France.

What I find interesting is the absence of examples of conversion in the opposite sense; that is, pro-nuclears becoming anti-nuclear. 

Even after Fukushima, in France or abroad, there seem to be no example other than Angela Merkel, and her change of position can be attributed to political considerations as she tried, vainly, by this move to avoid losing some local landers in the 2011 elections in Germany shortly after Fukushima.

EFN