« [SSJ: 6689] [Fondation France-Japon de l'EHESS] "The Role of the Past in "Modern" Japan of the Meiji Era", conference by Christopher L. Hill, June 1st | Main | [SSJ: 6691] ICC Lecture Announccement (June 30) »

June 1, 2011

[SSJ: 6690] "The Fukushima Effect and its Impact on German Nuclear Policy"

From: Andrew DeWit
Date: 2011/06/01

Dear SSJ Forum Members

Those of you in Tokyo, please be invited to a June 3, 12:00 to 13:30 talk, in Japanese, on the "Fukushima Effect" and the German state's decision to eliminate nuclear power by 2022.

The talk will be given by Miranda Schreurs, Professor at Berlin Free University, Director of the university's Environmental Policy Research Centre, Chair of the Steering Committee of the European Environment and Sustainable Development Advisory Councils (EEAC), and Member of the German Government's Ethics Commission for a Safe Energy Supply.

Professor Schreurs will describe the immense shift that has taken place in German energy policy as a result of the nuclear catastrophe still unfolding in Fukushima, Japan. On May 29, the Ethics Commission reported to Chancellor Angela Merkel on "Germany's Energy Transition: A Collective Endeavor for the Future." The report stresses that "phasing out the use of nuclear energy is possible within a decade." The Committee went on to argue that the transition "is necessary and advisable to eliminate in the future the risks associated with nuclear energy in Germany. Phase out is possible because there are less risky alternatives. The phase out should be designed in such a way that the competitiveness of industry and Germany as a location for doing business are not endangered. Science and research, technological development, and entrepreneurial initiatives promoting the development of new business models for a sustainable economy have given Germany alternatives: electricity generation from wind, sun, water, geothermal, biomass, greater efficiency and higher energy productivity as well as climate-acceptable fossil fuels." Chancellor Merkel has received this advice and has begun acting on it, with several bills on energy policy to be presented to the German Parliament as early as next week. Merkel also announced on May 30 that Germany would get out nuclear power by 2022 and declared that "we believe we as a country can be a trailblazer for a new age of renewable resources."

We at Rikkyo Institute for Peace and Community Studies and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung are very pleased to have Professor Schreurs, as a member of the commission as well as an expert on comparative environmental and energy politics, give this talk on such a truly monumental development in German energy policy. We very much hope to see you at the talk.

Title: "The Fukushima Effect and its Impact on German Nuclear Policy"

Time June 3, 12:00 to 13:30

Place: Rikkyo University, Tachikawa Memorial Hall http://english.rikkyo.ac.jp/access/ikebukuro/

Language: Japanese
Organizers:
Rikkyo Institute for Peace and Community Studies, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung

Contact: Rikkyo Institute for Peace and Community Studies peace@grp.rikkyo.ne.jp

Professor Shreuers's introductory page at Berlin Free
University:
http://www.fu-berlin.de/en/presse/fup/2011/fup_11_078/i
ndex.html

Approved by ssjmod at 12:50 PM