[Sci-tech-public] Reminder: Energy Lecture Today 4/23!

[Danielle Mancini]

Science, Technology, and Global Security Working Group at MIT

presents

Nuclear Power and its Alternatives for a Carbon-Constrained World

Robert Williams

Princeton Environmental Institute

Princeton University

Wednesday, April 23, 2008
12:00p - 1:30p
E51-095
  Free and open to the public.


We assess the comparative costs and benefits of three alternative 
options for baseload electric power that do not release carbon 
dioxide to the atmosphere: nuclear power, coal power with carbon 
capture and sequestration (CCS) and wind power with compressed air 
energy storage (CAES). All three must overcome major challenges 
before they can be implemented on a large enough scale to reduce 
carbon emissions significantly. In the case of nuclear power, there 
is a widespread consensus that the present non-proliferation regime 
cannot handle the increased risks of nuclear proliferation and 
terrorism in a world that relies much more heavily on nuclear power, 
but little agreement on how these risks can be minimized. With regard 
to CCS, the major challenge is to demonstrate that sequestration on 
the required scale can be implemented economically and with minimal 
environmental impact. For wind power, the major challenges are the 
intermittent nature of the source and the need to transport the 
generated electricity from wind-rich regions to major population 
centers. We conclude that all three options are roughly 
cost-competitive, so that non-climate considerations will probably 
determine the technology-mix under a climate change mitigation policy.


Robert H. Williams is Senior Research Scientist at Princeton 
University's Center for Energy and Environmental Studies. His 
research interests span a wide range of topics relating to advanced 
energy technologies, energy strategies, and energy policy, for both 
industrialized and developing countries. A considerable part of his 
research is focused on energy technologies and strategies for 
developing countries, where most of the growth in global energy 
demand will take place, and where environmental and security 
challenges relating to energy are especially great. He was Chair of 
the Renewable Energy Task Force for the President's Committee of 
Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) and was the principal 
author of "Renewable Energy",(Chapter 6) in the 1997 report, Federal 
Energy Research & Development for the Challenges of the 21st Century 
and Report of the Energy R&D Panel. He received a B.S. in physics 
from Yale University in 1962 and a Ph.D. in theoretical plasma 
physics from the University of California at Berkeley in 1967.


Danielle Mancini
Program in Science, Technology, and Society
Science, Technology, and Global Security Working Group
MIT, E51-163D
77 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139
http://web.mit.edu/stgs
Tel: 617-452-2542
Fax:617-258-5750
Email: dmancini at mit.edu

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