Students and community activists assembled in Clark Hall Saturday to learn about the health, safety and environmental risks of nuclear power and to gather support for a safe, clean energy future in Virginia.
Titled "Virginia at the Crossroads -- Which Energy Future?" the conference was organized around Dominion Power's proposal to build two new nuclear reactors at North Anna, a nuclear facility near Charlottesville.
This would be one of the first reactors built in the United States since the meltdown at Pennsylvania's Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in 1979.
Elena Day, a conference organizer from People's Alliance for Clean Energy, said she wanted young people to start thinking about alternatives to our future energy needs.
"We should have been holding this conference 20 years ago," Day said.
Conference panelists included experts drawn from non-profit organizations, as well as college students actively championing clean energy.
Liz Veazey, a recent graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill, often speaks about renewable energy on college campuses.
As a part of Energy Action, a youth and student-run campaign for renewable actions, Veazey works to unite a variety of organizations for clean energy. She said she hopes this group will create change on campuses and in communities and corporations.
College campuses across the nation have witnessed renewable energy campaign victories, including those at the University of Colorado-Boulder, UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke University and the University of California system. A small student semester fee increase has been approved and incorporated at these schools toward these efforts.
Wenonah Hauter, director of the energy program at Public Citizen, a watchdog of the nuclear power industry based in Washington, D.C., said students should not ignore energy issues.
"The health and economic affects of nuclear reactors on students presents an opportunity for student to get involved locally and impact the future," Hauter said.
Third-year College student Khalial Withen is co-president of the EcoHouse initiative, an opportunity for students to live in a naturally sustainable environment and apply their education to daily living.
"College is an environment to gather talent for worthwhile causes," Withen said. "It's just a matter of when and how to teach students and communities. The University can lead through innovation."
Withen is also currently working towards getting Student Council to pass a resolution that would ask the University to purchase renewable forms of energy for its operations.
Fourth-year College student Andrew D'huyvetter said he saw the conference as a call for student awareness.
"You often throw on a light switch and are completely disconnected from what's going on," D'huyvetter said. "It is important to recognize both the location and implications of our power sources."
Paxus Calta, board member for the Nuclear Information Resource Service, told participants that conservation of resources is crucial.
"If there is a recipe for a sustainable community, it would be the technology of sharing and not making one of everything for everyone," Calta said.
Conference sponsors included the Southern Environmental Law Center, the Sierra Club's Piedmont Chapter, Student Environmental Alliance at U.Va. and People's Alliance for Clean Energy.
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