Fukushima and the Future of Nuclear Energy

When:  Apr 19, 2018 from 17:30 to 18:30 (MT)
Associated with  University of New Mexico
Science & Society Distinguished Public Talks
Fukushima and the Future of Nuclear Energy
By
M.V. Ramana

Thursday, April 19, 2018 5:30 PM
Meet and Greet at 5
The University of New Mexico Conference Center, Auditorium
1634 University Blvd. NE
Free and Open to the Public
Pizza with the speaker will follow the lecture

M. V. Ramana is the Simons Chair in Disarmament, Global and Human Security at the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, University of British Columbia and the author of The Power of Promise: Examining Nuclear Energy in India (Penguin Books, 2012) and co-editor of Prisoners of the Nuclear Dream (Orient Longman, 2003). He is a member of the International Panel on Fissile Materials and the Global Council of Abolition 2000. He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Leo Szilard Award from the American Physical Society.

Abstract: Like the earlier nuclear accidents at Three Mile Island (1979) and Chernobyl (1986), the multiple accidents at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in 2011 have had an impact on the future deployment of nuclear power. This talk will describe the current status of nuclear energy in different countries around the world and the evolution of its contribution to global electricity generation. It will then go on to outlining the various factors that will shape the future of nuclear energy, including the impacts of Fukushima, the costs of nuclear reactor construction, trends in renewable energy and other alternatives, social and technical challenges associated with nuclear energy such as radioactive waste disposal and the linkage to nuclear weapons, the imperative to mitigate climate change, and some of the other interests propelling continued investment in nuclear energy.

Location

UNM Conference Center
1634 University Blvd NE
Albuquerque, NM 87131

Contact

Jacqueline Ericksen
505-821-0299
jhericksen@msn.com