Where Did the Nuclear Industry Go Wrong? (Part 1)

When it comes to energy, there seems to be a very large gap between scientific, economic and environmental facts, on the one hand and what the general public believes, on the other. While the public can be excused, because all the energy technologies involved are much more complex than they appear on the surface, the people behind each of these technologies have contributed in a significant way to the existence of many of these gaps in communication. This presentation will focus on one of the largest gaps – that which exists about nuclear power. This gap will be identified; the causes and especially the consequences of this gap will be analyzed. Speaker: Cosmos Voutsinos Cosmos Voutsinos is a mechanical engineer graduated from the University of Waterloo and McMaster University. He specializes in energy conversion systems, in particular conversion to electrical energy. He has worked in various capacities in the design, construction and manufacturing of equipment and operation of energy conversion facilities for most energy technologies. This list includes nuclear and fossil fuel fired power plants as well as a variety of renewable energy projects. In nuclear power he has participated as a design engineer, as a construction manager, as a manufacturer of nuclear equipment and as a techno-economic consultant. His work has brought him from Canada, to USA, Taiwan, China, S. Korea, Japan and Belgium. He has been a member of the Canadian Nuclear Association (CNA), Organization of Candu Industries (OCI) and the Canadian Nuclear Society (CNS). At present he retains his Alberta P. Eng membership. Over his 40 year working career Cosmos has got to know not only the energy technologies involved but also the people and the social structures behind them.