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The Nuclear Pipeline: Integrating Nuclear Power and Climate Change

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Book cover Engineering Identities, Epistemologies and Values

Part of the book series: Philosophy of Engineering and Technology ((POET,volume 21))

Abstract

This chapter focuses on nuclear scientists and engineers, and the effectiveness of small-scale interventions that could be made to prepare them to consider novel kinds of climate disruptions and how such considerations could affect plant design and operations. Events at Fukushima in 2011 prompted renewed attention to nuclear safety. Soon after, scientists recorded record-breaking global temperatures, particularly during the summer of 2012. Perhaps as a result of these two events, academics and the media have begun asking whether nuclear power plants are robust to natural events beyond the range of available historical data (beyond design basis), including climate-related events such as increasing drought and rising cooling-water temperatures. Science policy scholars, scientists, and engineers outside nuclear science and engineering have begun to pose such questions and model possible effects. This study demonstrates there is almost no public discourse and very little professional discourse within the nuclear science and engineering community on this topic. We posit that this is largely because of the insular culture and professionalization standards of nuclear science and engineering, which could limit the effectiveness of curricular interventions made in engineering education.

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Acknowledgments

The writing of this paper would not have been possible without funding from the National Science Foundation. We would also like to thank the members of the Climate Change Engineering Partnership for their support and feedback as the ideas for this paper evolved. The authors received valuable feedback from audience members at the Western Energy Policy Research Conference in Boise, Idaho (2012), the International Conference on Culture, Politics, and Climate Change in Boulder, Colorado (2012), and the Nuclear Science and Engineering research seminar (2013).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Public Policy and Administration, Environmental Research Building, Office 5135, Boise State University, 1910 University Drive, Boise, ID, 83725, USA

    Jen Schneider

  2. Consortium for Science, Policy and Outcomes, Arizona State UniversityTempe, 875603, Tucson, AZ, 85287-5603, USA

    Abraham S. D. Tidwell

  3. Liberal Arts and International Studies, Colorado School of Mines, 301 Stratton Hall, 1005 14th Street, Golden, CO, 80401, USA

    Savannah Avgerinos Fitzwater

Authors
  1. Jen Schneider
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  2. Abraham S. D. Tidwell
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  3. Savannah Avgerinos Fitzwater
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Correspondence to Jen Schneider .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark

    Steen Hyldgaard Christensen

  2. Université Charles de Gaulle-Lille3, Lille, France

    Christelle Didier

  3. Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark

    Andrew Jamison

  4. KU Leuven, Ghent, Belgium

    Martin Meganck

  5. Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado, USA

    Carl Mitcham

  6. Baylor University, Baylor, Texas, USA

    Byron Newberry

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Schneider, J., Tidwell, A.S.D., Fitzwater, S.A. (2015). The Nuclear Pipeline: Integrating Nuclear Power and Climate Change. In: Christensen, S., Didier, C., Jamison, A., Meganck, M., Mitcham, C., Newberry, B. (eds) Engineering Identities, Epistemologies and Values. Philosophy of Engineering and Technology, vol 21. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16172-3_15

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