Climate One Presents "Nuclear Revival?"
- When
- Mon Jun 11, 2012
- Where
- The Commonwealth Club SF
- Time
- 12:00 PM
- Cost
- $7 - $20
- Tags
- Conferences, Technology
Description
Two new nuclear plants are moving forward for the first time in nearly thirty years. Boosters of atomic power say that’s an indication an American atomic revival is back on track after the radioactive disaster in Fukushima. But the costs of the new US plants is a staggering $10 billion a piece, raising questions of whether new nukes can stand on their own legs without government crutches. Abundant and cheap natural gas is also undercutting new nuclear, coal and renewable sources of electricity.Even if the United States doesn’t build many new nuclear reactors it will have to decide what to do with its fleet of 104 aging plants. Should they be relicensed or retired? Operators in California and other states want government approval to run their highly profitable plants for another twenty years. That would cost less than new ones but there’s debate about how risky that would be and how extensively they should be retrofitted first.
If they go offline, what other sources of low carbon energy could supply the 20 percent of electricity now generated by splitting atoms? Join us for a discussion about a critical juncture in powering America’s future.
Jim Boyd, Former Commissioner, California Energy Commission
Marv Fertel, CEO, Nuclear Energy Institute
Joe Rubin, Reporter, Capitol Public Radio/Center for Investigative Journalism
Date: Monday, June 11
Time: 11:30 a.m. check-in, 12 p.m. program, 1 p.m. networking reception
Location: The Commonwealth Club, SF Club Office, 595 Market Street, San Francisco
Cost: $20 standard, FREE for members, $7 students (with valid ID)
The speakers and audience will be videotaped for future broadcast on the Climate One TV show on KRCB TV 22 on Comcast and DirecTV.
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