New Nuclear, Old Challenges. What Now?

Growing power demands – coupled with increasingly frequent climate-driven disasters – have led even staunch environmentalists like NRDC head Manish Bapna to rethink their past opposition to nuclear power. 

Three Mile Island didn't kill anyone or cause major public harm, but it fundamentally changed U.S. nuclear policy for 40 years. Why did an accident with a relatively contained consequence have such a chilling effect – and what’s really different today? With dozens of new, purportedly safer designs at various stages of development and construction around the world, is it time for all of us to give nuclear energy a fresh look?

Guests:

Manish Bapna, President and CEO, NRDC 

Denia Djokić, Assistant Research Scientist, University of Michigan

Josh Freed, Senior Vice President for Climate and Energy, Third Way

Edwin Lyman, Director of Nuclear Power Safety, Union of Concerned Scientists 

Highlights:

00:00 – Introduction 

02:30 – Manish Bapna explains shift in posture on nuclear power

07:45 – Why permitting and transmission reforms are necessary

12:00 – Ed Lyman and Josh Freed share concerns about climate change but differ on the role of nuclear energy