Dr. Allison M. Macfarlane , the 2018 Fulbright Distinguished Chair in Applied Public Policy at Flinders University and Carnegie Mellon Adelaide, will discuss the Fukushima Dai’ich nuclear power accident from the perspective of the U.S. nuclear regulator, what they learned, some of the resultant changes to regulation in the US, and how to better anticipate some of the challenges posed by safety issues.
“All countries with nuclear power plants learned lessons from the accident which resulted from a massive earthquake and tsunami striking the coast of Japan in 2011, and created new regulations in the process,” said Dr Mcfarlane.
The combination caused a station blackout at the Fukushima Dai’ichi nuclear power plant, and in the ensuing days, three reactors melted down.
Dr Mcfarlane is on leave from her position as Professor of Science Policy and International Affairs at the George Washington University, Director of the Institute for International Science and Technology Policy and Director of the International Science and Technology Policy Master’s program at the University’s Elliott School of International Affairs. She served as Chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission from July 2012 through December 2014.
She holds a PhD in geology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology;has held fellowships at Radcliffe College, MIT, Stanford, and Harvard Universities and is a former faculty member at Georgia Tech and George Mason University. From 2010 to 2012 she served on the Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future, created by the Obama Administration to develop a national strategy for the nation's high-level nuclear waste.
She serves on National Academy of Sciences panels and has chaired the Science and Security Board of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. In 2006, MIT Press published a book she co-edited, Uncertainty Underground: Yucca Mountain and the Nation's High-Level Nuclear Waste.
"It is an exceptional opportunity to hear from someone to hear from someone with broad ranging experience and expertise in nuclear policy and regulation," said CEO Dr Adi Paterson.
Date and time: Tuesday 10 April 2018 2:00pm
Location: AINSE Theatre, ANSTO, Lucas Heights campus