Program

 

Friday, December 10, 2010
8:00-8:458:45-9:00 Coffee & Opening Remarks
9:00-12:00
PANEL 1
Chair: Jake Kosek, Department of Geography, University of California, Berkeley
9:00-9:30
How Best to Approach an Uncertain Nuclear Future
Tom Isaacs, Consulting Professor, Stanford University Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC) and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
 9:30-10:00
Official Science Fictions: Revisiting the Nuclear Future
Joseph Masco, Department of Anthropology, The University of Chicago
10:00-10:30
A History of the Nuclear Future
Victor Gilinsky, Independent Consultant
10:30-11:00
What Metascience Shows about Energy Futures: Economics Threatens Nuclear Fission and Encourages Renewable Energy
Kristin Shrader-Frechette, Ph.D., O’Neill Family Endowed Professor, Department of Philosophy and Department of Biological Sciences, and Director, Center for Environmental Justice and Children’s Health, University of Notre Dame
11:00-12:00 Discussion
12:00-1:30 Lunch Break
1:30-3:30
PANEL 2
Chair: TBA
1:30-2:00
Standard Errors in Forecasting Future Nuclear Energy System Costs
Geoffrey Rothwell, Department of Economics, Stanford University; Associate Director of the Public Policy Program, Stanford University
2:00-2:30
Past performance is no guide to future returns:  What can we really say about the future of economic, social, and technological systems?
Jonathan Koomey, Consulting Professor, Stanford University
2:30-3:00 Discussion
3:00-3:30 Coffee Break
3:30-6:003:30-4:00
PANEL 3
Chair: TBA
NRDC’s Nuclear Power Database
Thomas Cochran, Senior Scientist, Natural Resources Defense Council
4:00-4:30
Limitations of Large-scale Integrated Assessment Methods for Predicting Nuclear Futures: A Reductionist’s Viewpoint
Edward Blandford, CISAC Postdoctoral Fellow, Stanford University
4:30-5:00
Title TBA
Ian Hoffman, Electricity Markets and Policy Group, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab
5:00-6:00 Discussion
Saturday, December 11, 2010
8:30-9:00 Coffee
9:00-12:00
PANEL 4
Chair: TBA
9:00-9:30
A Paradigm Shift for Nuclear Power Operation and Design: “Significance First” in the 21st Century
Constance Perin, Ph.D., Visiting Scholar, Anthropology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
9:30-10:00
If They Gave a Renaissance and Nobody Came: Discursive Preconditions for a World Without Nuclear Power
William J. Kinsella, Department of Communication and Interdisciplinary Program in Science, Technology, & Society, North Carolina State University
10:00-10:30
Nuclear Power:  How will technology evolution affect economics and the scale of future deployment?
Per Peterson, Professor, Department of Nuclear Engineering, University of California, Berkeley
10:30-11:00
The Link Between the Nuclear Power Plant Operation and Construction and “Solutions” for the Disposition of High-Activity Radioactive Waste: A Cross-National Comparison
Daniel Metlay, Senior Professional Staff, U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board
11:00-12:00 Discussion
12:00-1:30 Lunch Break
1:30-4:00
PANEL 5
Chair: Gene Rochlin, Energy and Resources Group, University of California, Berkeley
1:30-2:00
Roles of Performance Assessment for Geological Disposal
Joonhong Ahn, Professor, Department of Nuclear Engineering, University of California, Berkeley
2:00-2:30
Modeling the Future: Does It Tell Us What We Want to Know
Allison Macfarlane, George Mason University
2:30-3:00
Past Futures of Radioactive Waste Management
Cathryn Carson, Department of History and Center for Science, Technology, Medicine, and Society, University of California, Berkeley
3:00-4:00 Discussion