People’s Energy Forum Nuclear Power: an Obstacle to Renewables and Sustainability?

People’s Energy Forum

Nuclear Power: an Obstacle to Renewables and Sustainability?

Organized by Globalization Monitor, Hong Kong Society for the Study of Nuclear Radiation, Siu Lek Yuen-Yuen Chau Kok Environment Concern Group, C in C Learning Centre
Co-organized with The Department of Applied Social Sciences Centre for Social Policy Studies at HKPolyU and Justice and Social Concern Committee of Hong Kong Christian Council.

Date: 9th March 2014 (Sunday)

Time: 1:30pm-6:30pm

Venue: Hong Kong Polytechnic University (Y301)

 

Draft Schedule:

Time Theme Speakers
1:30-2:00 pm Introduction of theme GM/ HKSSNR
2:00-3:00 pm Keynote Speech:

 

International Post-Fukushima Developments on Nuclear and Renewable Energies

- World nuclear industry: status and trends

- Nuclear energy vs Renewable energy.

Mr. MycleSchneider

 

(International Energy and Nuclear Policy Consultancy)

 

3:00-3:20 pm Q&A, Discussion  
3:20-3:40 pm Tea Break  
3:40-4:20 pm Green movement after Fukushima

 

-Phasing out nuclear energy in Germany

- Myths about Germany’s energy transition (eg. reliance on France for nuclear electricity?)

-Transition to renewable energy: a social reform?

Mr. Wolfgang Pomrehn

 

(German freelance journalist and book author on energy and climate issues)

4:20-4:40 pm Q&A, Discussion  
4:40-5:20 pm Citizen’s Struggle against Nuclear Power in Fukushima

 

- Update on Fukushima
- How public are misinformed by gov’t/media/academics, etc. after the disaster
-Road to Nuclear Free World

Ms. Shoko Murakami

 

(Coordinator of The Citizens’ Committee on Nuclear Energy)

5:20-5:40 pm Q&A, Discussion  
5:40-6:20pm Panel of Discussion

 

  1. Nuclear energy and its opposition movement
  2. The development of nuclear industry in China and its impacts
Participants:

 

-Mr. MycleSchneider

-Mr. Wolfgang Pomrehn

- Ms. Shoko Murakami

-HK/China Green groups

-Professor (TBC)

6:20-6:30 pm Round Up and Conclusion GM/HKSSNR

Background of our speakers

  1. 1.      Mycle Schneider Consulting

International Energy and Nuclear Policy Consultancy

Mycle Schneider works as independent international consultant on energy and nuclear policy. Mycle Schneider is the initiator and convening lead author of the World Nuclear Industry Status Reports. He is the Coordinator of the Seoul International Energy Advisory Council that advises the Seoul Metropolitan Government, South Korea. In 2007 he was appointed as a member of the International Panel on Fissile Materials (IPFM), based at Princeton University, USA.Between February 2010 and June 2011, he acted as Lead Consultant for the Asia Clean Energy Policy Exchange, an ECO-Asia initiative, implemented by IRG, funded by USAID, with the focus of developing a policy framework to boost energy efficiency and renewable energies.

Between 2004 and 2009 he has been in charge of the Environment and Energy Strategies Lecture of the International Master of Science for Project Management for Environmental and Energy Engineering at the Ecole des Mines in Nantes, France.

From 2000 to 2010 he was an occasional advisor to the German Environment Ministry. In 2006-2007 he assessed nuclear decommissioning and waste management funding issues on behalf of the European Commission. In 2005-2006 he was appointed as nuclear security specialist to advise the UK Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM). 1998-2003 he was an advisor to the French Environment Minister’s Office and to the Belgian Minister for Energy and Sustainable Development.

Mycle Schneider has given evidence and held briefings at national Parliaments in 14 countries[1] and at the European Parliament. He has advised Members of the European Parliament from four different groups over the past 25 years. He has given lectures or had been teaching appointments at 18 universities and engineering schools in nine countries.

Mycle Schneider has provided information and consulting services to a large variety of clients including the European Commission, the European Parliament’s General Directorate for Research, Oxford Research Group, the French National Scientific Research Council (CNRS) and the French Institute for Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Heinrich-Böll-Foundation, Greenpeace International, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), UNESCO, Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF).

Media representatives from around the world have inquired for his information, advice or complete features including many TV and radio stations, electronic and print media.

Mycle Schneider is co-editor of International Perspectives on Energy Policy and the Role of Nuclear Power, Multi Science Publishing, UK, 2009.

In 1997 he was honoured with the Right Livelihood Award (“Alternative Nobel Prize”).

2.     Wolfgang Pomrehn, 

German freelance journalist and book author on energy and climate issues

Wolfgang Pomrehn is a German freelance journalist working on energy and climate issues. He is holding a masters in Geophysics and published a book on climate change and energy policies in 2007. More recently he wrote a booklet on energy prices in Germany for the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation.

He has participated in the German movement against nuclear power plants since the late 70ies. Besides that, he has covered many international events of social movements like the Seattle protests against the WTO in 1999, different European social fora and the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil, in 2005, and in Tunis, Tunesia, in 2013. During the Asian crisis in 1997/98 he reported from the region for German news papers. He is a father of two and a grandfather of three.

Wolfgang Pomrehn was invited to attend <<Cracking the Nuclear Labyrinth>> International Forum 2012 in Hong Kong. This year is his second time to here; he will introduce the new trend of green movement in Germany.

3.      Ms. Shoko Murakami

Coordinator of Japan Citizens’ Committee on Nuclear Energy.

Shoko Murakami is a Coordinator of Citizens’ Commission on Nuclear Energy (CCNE) Japan. CCNE was launched on April 2013, two years after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident as a citizen-led think-tank to provide policy recommendations with an aim to realize nuclear power free society. More than 60 members from citizen groups, scientists across physical, social and humanistic sciences, engineers, and lawyers has joined to the Commission, CCNE is about to release first version of the “Framework for Nuclear Energy Phaseout Policy.”

She is also Asian Program officer of the Takagi Fund for Citizen Science. The Fund was established following the last will and testament of Jinzaburo Takagi(1938-2000), a nuclear chemist who was devoted his life to realizing a nuclear-free society, both military and commercial uses. The Fund offer grants to groups and individuals who conduct research projects which tackle urgent issues in which science and technology are threatening civil society and environment.

The concept of “Citizen Science” presupposes that science should not be monopolized solely by specialists engaged in academic research. Independent research and analysis conducted by citizens themselves with appropriate support from committed experts can provide criticism and counterarguments. Since the Fukushima accident, the Fund has supported many researches led by citizens who have struggled through radioactive pollution and challenged its national energy policy to open up for sustainable solutions.

She was born and grew up in Hiroshima as a second generation of A-bomb survivors. She has spent most of her career as a citizen activist. Before joining the Fund and CCNE, she was a campaigner at Friends of the Earth Japan.

She is a “weekend farmer” and enjoys cooking rice and vegetables from her community garden.

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