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Nuclear Energy Regulation: Comparing the American and Japanese Regimes

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JECE's Fall Campus Speaker Series

November 4, 2011 from 12:00-2:00p.m. in Classroom B

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Nuclear Energy Regulation:  Comparing the American and Japanese Regimes

On March 11, 2011, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and the subsequent tsunamis damaged several of Japan’s nuclear power plants.  The most severely affected plant was the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, located on the eastern coast of Japan’s Tōhoku region.As a result of the damage, reactor cooling capabilities were eventually lost.  This caused the reactor fuel in the cores of three reactors and, to an extent, the spent fuel in the spent fuel storage pool of a fourth reactor to melt.  Eventually, this caused radioactive fission products to be released, exposing at least two workers to high levels of radiation onsite and dispersing radioactive contaminants across Japan.  The country has since been struggling to cool the nuclear fuel and contain further release of radioactive contaminants.

From this ongoing nuclear disaster, certain questions arise that will be critical in shaping future nuclear regulatory policy.  Among them:  First, from a technical and a regulatory standpoint, why did this happen?  Second, how can the nuclear industry best plan for the effects of unprecedented disasters?

Washington & Lee University School of Law’s Journal of Energy, Climate, and the Environment will host a panel of speakers that will engage in a critical analysis of the American and Japanese regulatory regimes, with a special focus on nuclear energy policy.  The panel will consist of Professor Albert Carr, an expert in U.S. nuclear regulatory law; Professor Carl Goodman, an expert in Japanese regulatory law; and Dr. Charles Ferguson, the President of the Federation of American Scientists.  The panel’s goal will be to examine the American and Japanese regulatory states in hopes of highlighting areas in need of improvement in light of the Japanese nuclear event.

After the panelists speak about these topics, there will be time for a Q&A session with the audience. Read more about this event at the JECEBlog or on the law school's events page here.