anniversary

Lessons learned from Fukushima, future of nuclear power, Russia’s nuclear forces and much more.

Fukushima: One Year Later

• Listen to the new edition of the FAS podcast series, “A Conversation With An Expert,”  featuring FAS President Dr. Charles Ferguson. In this podcast, Dr. Ferguson discusses the lessons learned from Fukushima, safety of U.S. nuclear plants, future of nuclear power use, and Japan’s new energy policy post- Fukushima.
• FAS President Dr. Charles Ferguson is the executive producer and featured in the Council on Foreign Relations nuclear energy multimedia guide, which explores the past, present and future of nuclear power.

• Fukushima- A Year Later: March 11 marks the one year anniversary of the devastating earthquake and tsunami that devastated northeastern Japan, setting into motion the events that culminated in multiple reactor meltdowns. Dr. Y reflects on a few lessons we have learned as a result of this accident on the ScienceWonk blog.

• FAS President Dr. Charles Ferguson presented at a conference hosted by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace to examine the impact of the Fukushima accident. Dr. Ferguson spoke about the potential implications for the use of nuclear power post Fukushima and implications for safety, education, economics and waste disposal. You can view the slides from his presentation here.

• Japan’s Nuclear Dilemma:  In a new interview with Toni Johnson of the Council on Foreign Relations, FAS President Charles Ferguson spoke about Japan’s future energy program and states that Japan’s economy is taking a huge hit due to loss of significant power generation and high imported energy costs. Yet, Japan is not open to renewable energy as an alternative. Post-Fukushima, should Japan use nuclear power?

Yesterday, I presented at a conference hosted by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace to examine the impact of the Fukushima accident.

I spoke about the potential implications for the use of nuclear power post Fukushima and implications for safety, education, economics and waste disposal. You can view my presentation slides here.

Views on nuclear weapons are often linked to strong emotions. On August 6, 2010, the text announcing my podcast on nuclear security issues to FAS members and on the FAS Website used a strong, emotionally charged word to describe the August 6, 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima. That word was “unconscionable.”

An FAS member wrote to me expressing her disagreement with the use of that word because it is:

“an unequivocal judgment about the American decision to drop the two bombs.  This may be the opinion of whoever wrote the text, but it is NOT necessarily the opinion of all of the members and supporters of FAS.  I do not believe it was the opinion – before the end of the war – of all of the founders of the original organization that became FAS.  It is an arrogant claim that we would have all made a different decision under the circumstances of the war.”