Oh this is wonderful. The Scientific Alliance (UK) newsletter has the following discussion in the context of several prominent climate campaigners confessing their sins of having been anti-nuclear activists.

Having lobbied successfully against nuclear power for many years, they now confess they were wrong, because the context has changed. In the words of Mark Lynas “In retrospect, it will come to be seen as an enormous mistake for which the earth’s climate is now paying the price. To give an example, the environmentalists stopped a nuclear plant in Austria from being switched on, a colossal waste of money, and instead [Austria] built two coal plants.”

Sort of like the Marlboro Man pleading with others not to smoke? SA notes:

It’s not in the same league as Ulriche Meinhof’s change of heart and regret for the deaths which the Red Army Faction was responsible for, but this particular gang of four must now live with what they believe to be the negative consequences of their earlier actions.

Of course, our team isn’t like theirs, so we won’t accuse them of being bought off by the nuclear industry.

The SA anticipates this as well, of course.

For some in the mainstream, this will undoubtedly be seen as a sell-out and abandonment of principles. They are moving (with apologies to Orwell) from “renewable energy good, nuclear power bad” to “nuclear power bad, climate change worse.”

Hardly the first time Orwell’s relevant in this debate.