Macfarlane

The Fukushima nuclear disaster drastically changed the landscape for nuclear energy, and debates over its future continue to rage.

Allison M. Macfarlane, a geologist and former chair of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, will present her insider’s perspective in a lecture, “The Fukushima Nuclear Accident: Is Nuclear Energy Still a Viable Choice for a Carbon-Constrained World?” on April 25 at 3:30 p.m. in 700 Clark Hall. The event is free and open to the public. A reception immediately following the talk will be held in 701 Clark Hall.

“Professor Macfarlane has been a pioneer in bringing scientific training and expertise to bear on issues of nuclear regulation,” says Rachel Prentice, associate professor of Science & Technology Studies. “Among other issues, she has tackled the long-term environmental, geological, and scientific problems of nuclear waste storage.”

Macfarlane served as chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission from 2012 to 2014 and is professor of science and technology policy at George Washington University and director of the Center for International Science and Technology Policy at the University’s Elliott School of International Affairs. She holds a doctorate in geology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

From 2010 to 2012 Macfarlane 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 has served 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.”

Macfarlane will be at Cornell as the Nordlander Visiting Scholar. The Nordlander Lecture is endowed in memory of J. Eric Nordlander ’56 to bring an eminent scientist or public figure to Cornell to address contemporary issues of interest to Nordlander, particularly those that bear on the social consequences of science and technology in the context of public policy. This year’s lecture is co-sponsored by Cornell’s Department of Science & Technology Studies and the Committee on University Lectures.

Trina Garrison is administrative assistant and events coordinator for the Department of Science & Technology Studies.