The Role of Nuclear Power in Addressing Climate Change

Please join the Mines Global Energy Future Initiative and the Payne Institute for Public Policy at the Colorado School of Mines as we welcome moderators Mark Deinert and Morgan Bazilian with panelists Daniel Kammen, John Kotek, Allison Macfarlane, Rachel Slaybaugh, and Frank N. von Hippel, presenting a virtual seminar titled The Role of Nuclear Power in Addressing Climate Change on Friday, August 27, 2021 from 9:30am – 11:00am (MT).  Individual presentation from the panelists will be followed by a roundtable discussion.

The developing world will see a considerable expansion in electricity production in the coming decades, and the transition to electric vehicles will create a need for additional capacity in many locations. Nuclear power is a low-carbon energy source that does not suffer the variability issues associated with renewables. However, considerable obstacles exist to its expansion. A panel of experts from the climate, regulatory, and industrial communities will discuss nuclear’s role in addressing climate change including the obstacles to it.

Presentations:

Presentation Title: Nuclear Energy Innovation
Presenter: Daniel Kammen – Payne Institute Advisory Board Member, and Professor and Chair, Energy and Resources Group, Professor, Goldman School of Public Policy, Professor of Nuclear Engineering, James and Katherine Lau Distinguished Professor of Sustainability, University of California, Berkeley, Lead author of International Panel on Climate Change that won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize; Frm. Science Envoy for the US State Department
Abstract: The dramatic pace of innovation in the nuclear sector has opened a range of pathways for decentralized and centralized nuclear deployment. Both the cost and reliability and risk options today are far more diverse than existed when the Generation IV roadmap for nuclear was developed. At the same time, however, the private sector-government landscape has become more complex and challenging, with both the pace of innovation, and the challenge to the nuclear industry of the historic improvements in cost and performance of renewable energy and energy storage.
About Daniel Kammen: Daniel Kammen is Professor and Chair of the Energy and Resources Group, Professor, Goldman School of Public Policy, Professor of Nuclear Engineering, at University of California, Berkeley. He has been a Coordinating Lead Author for the IPCC (which shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize) since 1999. In 2010 – 2011 he was the Chief Technical Specialist for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency at the World Bank. In 2016-2017 he served as Science Envoy for for the U. S. Department of State.

Presentation Title: The Value of Nuclear Energy in a Low-Carbon Energy Future
Presenter: John Kotek – Senior VP for Policy & Public Affairs at the Nuclear Energy Institute, Fmr. Acting Assistant Secretary of Energy for Nuclear Energy
Abstract: John will discuss the tremendous value that firm, carbon-free generation from nuclear power has in a carbon-constrained energy system. I will also discuss the ways in which nuclear energy is poised to play an even larger role in a clean energy future, as we seek to decarbonize energy uses beyond the grid.
About John Kotek: John Kotek is Senior Vice President for Policy and Public Affairs at the Nuclear Energy Institute. Prior to joining NEI, he served as Acting Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy in the US Department of Energy. From 2010-2012, John served as Staff Director to the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future. In 2002, John was the American Nuclear Society’s Congressional Fellow. John began his career with the U.S. Department of Energy in 1989, and also served as an R&D program manager at Argonne National Laboratory. He holds a BS in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Illinois and an MBA from the University of Maryland.

Presentation Title: New Nuclear Cannot Help Mitigate Climate Change in the Short Term
Presenter: Dr. Allison M. Macfarlane – Professor and Director, School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, Faculty of Arts, University of British Columbia, Frm. Chairman of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission 
Abstract: The nuclear industry is banking on the ability of new nuclear power plants to mitigate climate change. But the need to reduce carbon emissions is immediate – certainly within the next ten years. Due to the high capital cost of new plants and long construction times, it is highly unlikely that new nuclear plants will be able to make any significant impact on climate change in the next few decades.
About Dr. MacFarlane: Dr. Allison M. Macfarlane is currently Professor and Director, School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, Faculty of Arts, UBC. The first geologist to chair the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission from 2012-2014, Dr. Macfarlane holds a doctorate in earth science from MIT and a bachelor’s of science from the University of Rochester. She has been on the faculty at George Washington University, Georgia Tech, and George Mason University. From 2010 to 2012 Dr. Macfarlane served on the White House Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future. She serves on the Nuclear and Radiation Studies Board of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.

Presentation Title: How Advanced Nuclear Could Help Fight Climate Change
Presenter: Rachel Slaybaugh, Director of the Cyclotron Road Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Associate Professor of Nuclear Engineering, University of California, Berkeley
Abstract: Nuclear energy has looked about the same for the last 60 years. Now, startups and the innovation arms of larger companies are looking to deploy new kinds of reactors in the 2030 timeframe. What’s different about those technologies? How do they fit into our larger decarbonization plan?
About Rachel Slaybaugh: Rachel Slaybaugh is the Director of the Cyclotron Road Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and an Associate Professor of Nuclear Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. Slaybaugh recently served on the Department of Energy Agency Review Team for the Biden-Harris 2021 transition and before that as a Program Director at the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). She is also the founding Board Chair for Good Energy Collective.

Presentation Title: Declining Official Expectations for Nuclear Power
Presenter: Frank N. von Hippel – Professor of Public and International Affairs emeritus Program on Science & Global Security, Princeton University, MacArthur Fellow
Abstract: The International Atomic Energy Agency projects global nuclear capacity in 2050 to change by between -9 and +82% of its 2020 capacity. The International Energy Agency, in its “sustainable development scenario,” expects nuclear power’s contribution to double but contribute only 4% of net CO2 emission reductions by 2070. The US Energy Information Agency, in its least fossil-fuel-heavy scenario, projects a 9% decline in US nuclear generating capacity by 2050.
About Frank N. von Hippel: Frank N. von Hippel has worked on nuclear weapons and nuclear-energy policy since 1974, including collaborating with Gorbachev’s nuclear-arms-control advisors and working in the Clinton Administration’s Office of Science and Technology Policy.