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Nuclear expert to address CSU
Jim Sojourner
Issue date: 10/15/08 Section: News
Amid growing concerns about America's energy future and CSU's push to be carbon neutral by 2020, Gwyneth Cravens, author of the book "Power to Save the World: The Truth about Nuclear Energy," is speaking at CSU on Wednesday to tear down what she says are misconceptions about nuclear power and sustainable energy.
Cravens will dispute some of the myths surrounding nuclear power and attempt to show that it is not only a viable source of power for America, but also the only source of power capable of providing clean, sustainable, large-scale energy.
"Power to save the world does not lie in rivers, wind, rocks, or sunshine; it lies in each one of us," Cravens said in a phone interview.
Cravens said her lecture will address her change of opinion from being a strong skeptic of nuclear initiatives to a proponent of the alternative energy.
"I talk about my own journey from myth to fact," Cravens said. "I started out as an anti-nuclear person, and everyone I knew was an anti-nuclear person."
She said humanity faces a very serious problem in terms of the survival of all the species on earth, global climate change and ocean acidification. Cravens said people have the technology and the ability to deal with all those problems.
"Because we have brains, we can do something about it," Cravens said. Right now, she said, that solution is nuclear.
"Wind and solar are great, but weak," Cravens said.
She said most forms of clean power just do not provide enough energy to replace fossil fuels and also leave a "huge footprint."
"We don't have a lot of choices on how to get our energy. Most don't supply base-load electricity," Cravens said.
While nuclear does supply the baseload, Cravens said, people are against using it for a variety of reasons.One of the largest problems that faces nuclear energy, Cravens said, is the inability of nuclear scientists to discuss the positives of nuclear and dispute the negatives.
"Often they aren't that communicative," Cravens said.
Cravens will dispute some of the myths surrounding nuclear power and attempt to show that it is not only a viable source of power for America, but also the only source of power capable of providing clean, sustainable, large-scale energy.
"Power to save the world does not lie in rivers, wind, rocks, or sunshine; it lies in each one of us," Cravens said in a phone interview.
Cravens said her lecture will address her change of opinion from being a strong skeptic of nuclear initiatives to a proponent of the alternative energy.
"I talk about my own journey from myth to fact," Cravens said. "I started out as an anti-nuclear person, and everyone I knew was an anti-nuclear person."
She said humanity faces a very serious problem in terms of the survival of all the species on earth, global climate change and ocean acidification. Cravens said people have the technology and the ability to deal with all those problems.
"Because we have brains, we can do something about it," Cravens said. Right now, she said, that solution is nuclear.
"Wind and solar are great, but weak," Cravens said.
She said most forms of clean power just do not provide enough energy to replace fossil fuels and also leave a "huge footprint."
"We don't have a lot of choices on how to get our energy. Most don't supply base-load electricity," Cravens said.
While nuclear does supply the baseload, Cravens said, people are against using it for a variety of reasons.One of the largest problems that faces nuclear energy, Cravens said, is the inability of nuclear scientists to discuss the positives of nuclear and dispute the negatives.
"Often they aren't that communicative," Cravens said.
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