A nuclear-loving teenager has been blocked by one of the ABC’s most prominent scientist after he suggested the doctor had his facts wrong.
Founder of Nuclear for Australia Will Shackel, 18, revealed he had been blocked by Dr Karl Kruszelnicki on X after the two rowed about nuclear energy on Thursday.
Will said all he had done to upset Dr Karl was point out that California’s energy supply was not 100 per cent renewable as the professor had claimed.
The teen shared a screenshot of the blocked message which appeared when he searched Dr Karl’s profile on the social media site to prove his claims.
‘So I’ve just been blocked by Dr Karl,’ he wrote on Friday.
‘All I did was point out that California isn’t 100 per cent renewables.
‘It has a nuclear plant called Diablo Canyon Power Plant which provides ~10 per cent of their power.
‘I find it concerning that raising a simple fact would justify blocking an 18-year-old.’
Founder of Nuclear for Australia Will Shackel, 18, was blocked by Dr Karl Kruszelnicki on X on Thursday (pictured, Will pointing from a distance at Diablo Canyon Power Plant)
Dr Karl shared a nuclear study out of California which claimed the state had run off 100 per cent renewable energy sources for 98 days
Will shared a photo proving that he was blocked on Friday
Dr Karl blocked Will after he replied to a tweet sent out by the doctor which quoted an article praising California’s energy policy.
Dr Karl had shared a new study published in the journal Renewable Energy claiming California was 100 per cent renewable over a period of 98 days in late-2024.
‘”No blackouts occurred when wind-water-solar electricity supply exceeded 100 per cent of demand on the state’s main grid for a record 98 of 116 days from late winter to early summer 2024 for an average (maximum) of 4.84 (10.1) hours per day”,’ he quoted.
Will replied by asking ‘what happened’ to energy created by the Diablo Canyon Power Plant during that time but instead of getting a reply the teen found himself blocked.
The power plant sits roughly 336km south of Los Angeles and is currently fighting to have it’s licenses renewed.
Will said he was ‘frankly quite shocked’ by Dr Karl’s decision to immediately cut communication.
‘I just bought up the fact that the nuclear plant exists, and that it was, to my understanding, definitely supplying energy to California,’ Will told Daily Mail Australia.
‘I didn’t think that Dr Carl would care about me, and originally the comment didn’t get much traction.
‘And then I discovered he had blocked me and I obviously shared that on Twitter because I thought it was pretty shocking that this really well respected scientist would block an 18 year old teenager like that.’
Will asked Dr Karl if any energy created by Diablo Canyon Power Plant had been used in California during the 98-day period but found himself blocked almost instantly (pictured, Will in Diablo Canyon Power Plant)
Will told Daily Mail Australia he was ‘shocked’ to find himself on Dr Karl’s blocked list
Will said he was ‘really disappointed’ that a scientist he had once respected would choose to block him instead of responding to his question.
‘You know, Dr Karl tries to speak to my generation about science and other things, and I’ve obviously respected his previous work,’ he told the publication.
‘So I was really, really disappointed in him for that.’
While it is unclear exactly how much of California’s energy supply had come from Diablo Canyon Power Plant during the study period Will said he had seen the plant in operation during a visit to the site in July 2024.
‘I’ve seen it with my own eyes. I went there and witnessed it as it was operating,’ he continued.
Will’s tweet showing that Dr Karl had blocked him spurred many of his followers to share their own screenshots proving that he was not the only one.
‘I only asked if he was paid by the government to spread a narrative,’ one user replied with a screenshot of their own showing they had been blocked by Dr Karl.
‘Me too. Within seconds of my first comment on one of his posts’ a second said with another screenshot showing the blocked page.
When asked what he would say to Dr Karl if given the chance Will revealed that he would implore him to ‘open his mind to all forms of energy’.
‘If he were standing in front of me I would tell him to open his mind to nuclear energy and support our work to lift a ban on nuclear energy,’ Will said.
‘We need all clean energy options on the table to power our society to decarbonise.’
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Dr Karl for comment.
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