Dinner Seminar: A Green New Deal - With Nuclear
Join ANS EWS to discuss the "Green New Deal" and the role nuclear energy will play.
Keynote: Dr. James Conca
When: Tuesday, March 21st, 2019 starting at 6:00 pm
Where: The REACH Museum, 1943 Columbia Park Trail, Richland WA 99352
Price: FREE for ANS-EWS members, 20$ for non members
The keynote speaker at this ANS-EWS dinner is Jim Conca.
Geochemist and Energy scientist, speaker and author Dr. James Conca is Senior Scientist for UFA Ventures, Inc. in the Tri-Cities, Washington, a Trustee of the Herbert M. Parker Foundation, an Adjunct Professor at Washington State University in the School of the Environment, an Affiliate Scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory and a Science Contributor to Forbes on energy and nuclear issues. Conca obtained a Ph.D. in Geochemistry from the California Institute of Technology in 1985, an MS in Planetary Science in 1981, and a Bachelors in Geology and Biochemistry from Brown University in 1979.
Summary of the Professional Seminar
Congressional members have rolled out a "Green New Deal" that calls for a rapid shift to carbon-free energy requiring drastic measures to cut carbon emissions across the economy. Every true expert on the subjects of climate change and energy knows we need all non-fossil fuel energy sources, including nuclear, in order to reduce our carbon emissions in time to reign in the worst effects of global warming.
Although much has focused on the Green in the Green New Deal, and this discussion will as well, it really is as much about the New Deal part - the social issues of economic equality, jobs and social nets, as in updating Roosevelt’s original New Deal that brought us out of the Great Depression.
The Green New Deal states that we should go carbon-neutral in 10 years. While that is not scientifically possible, it is the type of goal that needs to be set in order to make enough of a difference in the time frame we have, which is about 20 years.
The only energy plans for generation that have any hope of achieving any of the goals we need, in the time frame we need them, must have some form of the following:
- stop building any new fossil fuel plants
- stop closing existing nuclear power or hydropower plants that have been relicensed as safe by the NRC and the FERC
- build as many wind turbines as possible and site them along Tornado Alley first
- put rooftop solar on all new buildings, first where sunny days average >200 per year
- build new small modular reactors as fast as possible to load-follow, or buffer, the renewables. SMRs cannot melt down and all the other scary things have been fixed
- follow the new plan by DOE to double hydropower without building a single new dam
- secure sources of Li, Co, Fe and other metals needed to build the alternatives
- build a fleet of 150 million fully electric vehicles by 2040 with 100,000 charging stations
- streamline the process to site/approve high-voltage transmission lines and a smart grid
The exact mix of sources, incorporation of new technologies and what, if any, role biomass will play, are fungible. However, resource allocation for steel, Li, Co and other critical materials must be strategically planned for and become a surprisingly limiting issue for renewables. The possible Green New Deals that are actually achievable need to be understood in time to avert collapse of the planetary ecosystems as the population peaks at mid-century. This issue is too important to accept substituting ideology for science.
Join ANS EWS to discuss the "Green New Deal" and the role nuclear energy will play.
Keynote: Dr. James Conca
When: Tuesday, March 21st, 2019 starting at 6:00 pm
Where: The REACH Museum, 1943 Columbia Park Trail, Richland WA 99352
Price: FREE for ANS-EWS members, 20$ for non members
The keynote speaker at this ANS-EWS dinner is Jim Conca.
Geochemist and Energy scientist, speaker and author Dr. James Conca is Senior Scientist for UFA Ventures, Inc. in the Tri-Cities, Washington, a Trustee of the Herbert M. Parker Foundation, an Adjunct Professor at Washington State University in the School of the Environment, an Affiliate Scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory and a Science Contributor to Forbes on energy and nuclear issues. Conca obtained a Ph.D. in Geochemistry from the California Institute of Technology in 1985, an MS in Planetary Science in 1981, and a Bachelors in Geology and Biochemistry from Brown University in 1979.
Summary of the Professional Seminar
Congressional members have rolled out a "Green New Deal" that calls for a rapid shift to carbon-free energy requiring drastic measures to cut carbon emissions across the economy. Every true expert on the subjects of climate change and energy knows we need all non-fossil fuel energy sources, including nuclear, in order to reduce our carbon emissions in time to reign in the worst effects of global warming.
Although much has focused on the Green in the Green New Deal, and this discussion will as well, it really is as much about the New Deal part - the social issues of economic equality, jobs and social nets, as in updating Roosevelt’s original New Deal that brought us out of the Great Depression.
The Green New Deal states that we should go carbon-neutral in 10 years. While that is not scientifically possible, it is the type of goal that needs to be set in order to make enough of a difference in the time frame we have, which is about 20 years.
The only energy plans for generation that have any hope of achieving any of the goals we need, in the time frame we need them, must have some form of the following:
- stop building any new fossil fuel plants
- stop closing existing nuclear power or hydropower plants that have been relicensed as safe by the NRC and the FERC
- build as many wind turbines as possible and site them along Tornado Alley first
- put rooftop solar on all new buildings, first where sunny days average >200 per year
- build new small modular reactors as fast as possible to load-follow, or buffer, the renewables. SMRs cannot melt down and all the other scary things have been fixed
- follow the new plan by DOE to double hydropower without building a single new dam
- secure sources of Li, Co, Fe and other metals needed to build the alternatives
- build a fleet of 150 million fully electric vehicles by 2040 with 100,000 charging stations
- streamline the process to site/approve high-voltage transmission lines and a smart grid
The exact mix of sources, incorporation of new technologies and what, if any, role biomass will play, are fungible. However, resource allocation for steel, Li, Co and other critical materials must be strategically planned for and become a surprisingly limiting issue for renewables. The possible Green New Deals that are actually achievable need to be understood in time to avert collapse of the planetary ecosystems as the population peaks at mid-century. This issue is too important to accept substituting ideology for science.