'Nuclear Power After Fukushima'

The South Florida Museum will offer a special program, “Nuclear Power After Fukushima” at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, June 14 in the Museum’s Bishop Planetarium Theater. Dr. A. David Rossin, a nuclear engineer and former Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy for the U.S. Department of Energy, will discuss the many important questions that have arisen from this horrific event at this presentation.

On March 11, 2011, Japan was devastated by a 9.0 earthquake that subsequently triggered a tsunami. The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant located on the coastline lost power to the reactor cooling systems and experienced partial nuclear meltdowns resulting in radiation leaks and massive evacuations within 30 km of the area. The plant’s six reactors ran electrical generators with a combined power of 4.7 GWe (electrical gigawatts), making the Fukushima power plant one of the 15 largest nuclear power plants in the world.

“As weeks roll into months, the headlines about Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant disappear. Radioactivity and contamination make news, but real information about health risks rarely follows,” said Dr. Rossin. “At this special program, I will discuss many questions. What went wrong? Why didn’t safety systems work as designed? Why was a nuclear power plant built on the seashore? Why was it licensed to run in the first place? How will it affect the future of Japan? What does it mean for the 28 reactors of similar design and vintage in the U.S.?”

The presentation will also address the future of nuclear power and nuclear power plants around the world. The program is open to the public and free to attend.  Reservations are required as space is limited. For more information or to make reservations, call 941-746-4131, ext. 22 or e-mail jrodgers@southfloridamuseum.org.