“You have to go see the waste — did you see the waste?” Isabelle Boemeke shouted into the wind, which whipped her long, dark braid behind her as she stood on the California shoreline in San Luis Obispo.

The waste in question was the leftover uranium rods from producing nuclear energy, which are stored in thick casks of steel and concrete to keep them, at least theoretically, safely away from human beings. (Those who oppose the plant have their doubts.)

Ms. Boemeke once kissed one of these casks.

In the distance behind her, occasionally visible behind the thick sea fog, was Diablo Canyon Power Plant, a nuclear power facility situated on a cartoonishly beautiful stretch of coastline.

Dressed in a blazer with sharp pointed shoulders and asymmetrical silver earrings, Ms. Boemeke looked like the heroine of a dystopian novel set sometime in the future. (A future where Prada is still making loafers — more than slightly impractical for the rocky terrain.)

Read more in the New York Times.

The views and opinions expressed are those of the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of C3.