Antinuclear activist: The closing of the nuclear power plant is a victory for the antinuclear cause. ██ ████ ██████████ █ ███████ ██████████████ ██ ███ █████ ████████ ████ ████ ██████ ███████ ████ ██████ ███████
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We have two speakers in this stimulus: an antinuclear activist, and a nuclear power plant manager, each of whom discuss a recent nuclear plant closure. The activist doesn't make an argument, just a couple of factual claims: that the closure was a victory for the antinuclear cause, and that it represents the power industry's acknowledgement of the danger of nuclear plants.
The manager, on the other hand, makes an argument concluding that the closure was not due to safety considerations, but economic ones. The manager explains the economic factors that (allegedly) caused the plant's closure: cheap nonnuclear power and the cost of safety inspections and repairs.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ ████████ ████████ ███ ████████████ █████ ██ ████████
The plant had ███████ ███ ███ ██ █████ ███ █████████ ███████ ████████
The plant's operating license has nothing to do with antinuclear activism, at least without making some wild assumptions. (A) doesn't support the claim that the plant's closure was an activist victory; by giving another unrelated cause, it actually undermines that claim.
Answers that, if they have any effect, do the opposite of what we want (weaken when we're trying to strengthen, or strengthen when we're trying to weaken).
The mandate for ███████████ ███ ███████ █████████ ██ ███ ███████ ███ ████████ ███████ ██ █ ██████ ██ ████████ ████ ███████████ ███████
This takes one of the manager's economic considerations and ties it back to antinuclear activism. If activism led to higher safety standards, which then caused the plant to shut down, that supports the conclusion that this is an antinuclear victory after all.
The plant would ███ ████ ██████ ██ █████ █████ ████ ██████████ ███████ ███ ███ ████ ██████████
(C) really just restates one of the manager's premises in stronger terms. It still tells us that economic considerations, not activist tactics, were the key to the plant's closure.
Per unit of ███████████ █████████ ███ █████ ███ ███ ███████ █████████ █████ ██ ███ ███████ █████ ██████
So, this nuclear plant was particularly inefficient. That's unfortunate for them, but doesn't tell us anything about the role of activism in shutting the plant down.
Answers that, if they have any effect, do the opposite of what we want (weaken when we're trying to strengthen, or strengthen when we're trying to weaken).
The plant that ██████ ███ ████ ████ ██ ███████ ██████ █████ ██ ██ ██████████ ███████ ████ █████ ██ ███ ███████ ██████ ███████████
(E) is unrelated to the reason the plant shut down, which is what we're focused on here. The plant's contributions to the greater electrical grid have no bearing on whether its closure was an activist victory or just an economic necessity.
Answers that, if they have any effect, do the opposite of what we want (weaken when we're trying to strengthen, or strengthen when we're trying to weaken).
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