Report on online lecture: "50 years of (nuclear) energy debate - have we learnt anything?"

On Tuesday, 8 November 2022, the online lecture "50 years of (nuclear) energy debate - have we learned anything?" took place from 17:00 to approx. 18:45.

The speaker, Dipl.-Phys. Ulrich Waas, first spoke for about an hour and guided the audience through his slides. This was followed by a lively discussion in which a number of questions were addressed.

With well over 100 participants, the event was once again a great success, which speaks in favour of this format of KTG events.

What was the content of the lecture?

After the oil price crisis in 1973, a huge euphoria about nuclear energy developed, with (almost) everyone in favour: government, parliament, associations, churches.

Almost 40 years later, after Fukushima in 2011, (almost) everyone was against it - the government, parliament, many associations and churches.

What caused the turnaround? What mistakes did the supporters make? What can we learn from them?

Mr Waas presented his thoughts on these points, mirrored them with examples from his professional life and gave recommendations for the future on the controversial topic of nuclear power in Germany or in general when dealing with social conflict issues.

In the ensuing discussion, some specific technical questions were asked. For example, why Mr Waas was critical of the DFR or why so many French NPPs are currently out of operation.

The questions were answered comprehensively and the speaker's expertise was impressive.

Overall, this was a successful event with participants from all over Germany and some from neighbouring countries, so that a continuation of this online format is planned.

Speaker:

From 1975 to 2012, Dipl.-Phys. Ulrich Waas worked for KWU and its successor companies in the following areas: commissioning of pressurised water reactors, fundamental issues in public relations, safety reports, technical representation in administrative court proceedings, safety issues and deterministic safety analyses for PWRs.

Member of the Nuclear Safety Committee from 1998 to 2012

Member of the Plant and Systems Engineering Committee of the Reactor Safety Commission from 2005 to 2016

Member of the Reactor Safety Commission from 2010 to 2021

Dr Hans-Georg Willschütz, Spokesman KTG NORD Section

The slides of the presentation can be downloaded here:

50 years of energy debate - have we learnt anything_Ulrich-Waas