Nuclear Family

This is a weird business. Generally speaking, news organizations prefer young blood. We work like dogs and still have the boundless idealism that it takes to come up with fresh ideas. But at the same time, it is years of institutional knowledge gained through hands-on experience that makes for a good reporter. Being somewhere between the two—still young and (somewhat) fresh-faced enough to not care if I break a sweat but with enough experience to cut through the crap—is an interesting place to be.

This brings me to this week’s cover story. We had been planning a retrospective on the Shoreham nuclear power plant for months and the idea went through several incarnations. But what was a constant sticking point for me was the fact that I would be writing about things that happened well before I was capable of comprehending them in some cases, or before I was even born in other cases. There was only so much perspective I could provide, not having been there to witness the social unrest surrounding Shoreham myself.

This story’s deep roots reminded me that elbow grease only gets you so far. Yet despite my lacking the firsthand experience that some of the reporters who are old enough to recall the Shoreham controversy have, I still think I went into this one with an edge.

I grew up in Shirley in the 80s, a 15-minute drive from Shoreham, and have family in Wading River. We used to go to the Long Island Sound beach on Creek Road and I would inevitably wind up getting a lecture on the issue as a child, although I was too young to understand it fully. I just remember always looking at that plant and knowing that there was a big hullabaloo surrounding it, which also made me wonder why we would sometimes launch our boat in the creek right next to it.

The only thing that ever stuck with me—aside from the image of the structure itself—was being told of how people were worried that the 12-foot concrete wall was not enough to protect those who lived nearby in the event of a meltdown. I just didn’t realize how significant this was for Long Island until later.

I also remember Hurricane Gloria, the storm that some credit with turning public opinion against LILCO and the plant, resulting in the agreement to close it in 1989. We were without power for two weeks. I still remember the joy I felt when someone realized—by accidently turning on a light switch—that the power was back. And I can still picture the NY National Guard set up on William Floyd Parkway to provide clean drinking water to the community.

My point being, I may not have the same sense of history that some more senior reporters than myself have (which is not to say I have no sense of history, it was my favorite subject in school), but I was not learning about this topic for the first time on the week the story was assigned. And having roots on this island does come in handy when writing about an issue like this one that has had such a meteoric impact, even if my connection to this one is just my childhood recollections.

Now to sit back and wait for the inevitable hate mail. As I told every source I spoke to on this story, it is probably easier to write a book on Shoreham than it is to fit all of the relevant details into a page and a half, which is why there are at least a half dozen books on the subject. There are countless parts to this story that were overlooked in my piece. It is simply an occupational hazard, sort of like the risk of radiation exposure while working at a nuclear power plant.

But to be able to say I’m one of the rare few who have had a tour of the plant and been inside its reactor, well, that’s just one of the priceless perks of this job.