Please join us for the inaugural Nuclear and Radiation Studies Board’s The Road to 2050 Project: High-Level Radioactive Waste Webinar Series.

The 90-minute webinar will focus on the lessons learned from Finland’s successful siting of a repository for high-level radioactive waste from commercial nuclear power plants. Early and frequent engagement with affected communities was a core part of Finland’s process. The participants will discuss this and other lessons learned and the way forward for Finland.

While a number of notable U.S. studies such as the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future have highlighted the need for a consent-based approach, the United States has yet to implement this approach on the road to having one or more high-level waste repositories licensed and operating by 2050. The webinar series is intended to contribute to the public discourse on “The Road to 2050,” the goal date for successful siting and operations of one or more repositories in the United States.

A relevant National Academies report is:

One Step at a Time: The Staged Development of Geological Repositories for High Level Radioactive Waste

Participants

Allison M. Macfarlane, Director, School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, The University of British Columbia; board member of the Nuclear and Radiation Studies Board (NRSB); and former Chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, will serve as the webinar’s moderator with guest panelists:

• Vesa Jalonen, Chairman of the Municipal Council of the Eurajoki municipality;
• Markku Lehtonen, Researcher, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona; Principal Investigator of the Project on “The Technopolitics of Nuclear Megaproject Pathologies, Economic Controversies and Varieties of Socioeconomic Appraisal”;
• Barbara Pastina, Project Manager (TURVA-2020, safety case for the operational license application), Posiva Oy; former National Academies senior staff officer for the One Step at a Time study;
• Mika Pohjonen, Managing Director, Posiva Solutions Oy

Introductory remarks about the webinar series and commentary will be provided by Monica C. Regalbuto, Director, Nuclear Science and Technology, Idaho National Laboratory, and Paul T. Dickman, Senior Policy Fellow with Argonne National Laboratory. Both are board members of NRSB.

Contact Us
For questions about the program and future topics for the Road to 2050 Project, contact Charles Ferguson at cferguson@nas.edu.