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November 8, 2007
The Lyric Theatre, Blacksburg Project Founder: Doris T. Zallen For more information, contact the Choices and Challenges Project,
Department of Science and Technology in Society |
Overview Nuclear power is back - perhaps. After decades of being regarded as too expensive, too dangerous, or (in terms of generated waste) too unmanageable, nuclear energy appears to be making a resurgence as a "green technology." The backdrop to its potential comeback is climate change: increasingly regarded as a threat to people, nature, and perhaps even civilization, climate change is prompting many analysts, from all political walks of life, to advocate non-carbon emitting energy technologies. But even the magazine Forbes, in a recent editorial skeptical of climate change, sees something positive coming out of the climate change clamor, namely, "a major push for nuclear power - a proved, ultraclean, nonemitting producer" (March 26, 2007). With the United States, China, and European nations eyeing nuclear energy in a new light, is the industry on the verge of a comeback? Does society want a nuclear resurgence? What are the potential risks? Join us to discuss the technological, environmental, social, and ethical dimensions of nuclear power at the 2007 Choices and Challenges Forum. |