COP 21 Paris agreement

Does protecting the global climate need more nuclear energy?

This debate was organised for the anniversary of COP 21 and the landmark Paris agreement, adopted by consensus on 12 December 2015. 195 countries adopted the first-ever universal, legally binding global climate deal. The agreement sets out a global action plan to put the world on track to avoid dangerous climate change by limiting global warming to well below 2°C. 

Date: 13th December 2017, 3pm

Location: JMS Lecture Theatre

SSRP Nuclear debate

SSRP debate panel 1 SSRP Nuclear debate Malcolm Grimston SSRP nuclear debate audience SSRP audience wider shot SSRP Nuclear debate Phil asking question SSRP Nuclear debate audience shot from back Gordon Mackerron SSRP debate SSRP Nuclear debate closeup on audience SSRP Nuclear debate person asking question SSRP debate panel 2 SSRP Nuclear debate audience 1 SSRP debate Tim asking question SSRP nuclear debate final audience shot

Our debate panel comprised of:

Mr Malcolm Grimston

Malcolm Grimston

Educated at Scarborough College and Magdalene College, Cambridge, graduating in 1979 having read Natural Sciences and specialised in psychology. He worked as a chemistry teacher before joining the UK Atomic Energy Authority in 1987. In 1995 he joined Imperial College as a Senior Research Fellow, where he retains visiting status, and from 1999-2002 he was a Senior Research Fellow at Chatham House. Recent major papers include Electricity -social service or market commodity (2010); Have we been here before – nuclear power after Fukushima (2012); The full costs of electricity (2014); The siting of nuclear power installations (2014).  From 2007 to 2011 he was part of a consortium carrying out a government-funded project on sustainable nuclear energy.  

Professor Gordon Mackerron 

Gordon Mackerron

Gordon MacKerron is Professor of Science and Technology Policy at SPRU (Science Policy Research Unit), University of Sussex. He is an economist working in energy and environmental economics and energy policy. He has worked and published extensively on difficult issues in public energy policy-making, especially in nuclear power. Since the late 1970s he has specialised in the economic and policy issues surrounding nuclear power, both in the UK and internationally His experience in nuclear power, both academically and in policy engagement, is extensive. Some examples are: from 2003 until 2007 he was the Chair of the UK Committee on Radioactive Waste Management, an independent body set up by the UK Government to formulate a new policy for high-level wastes; he has been an expert witness in several national and international public inquiries (on nuclear new-build) and court cases, in the latter case at the Court of Permanent Arbitration at the Hague; in 2012 the UK Secretary of State personally commissioned him to write a monograph on UK policy for nuclear decommissioning and waste management.

Chair: Mr Leo Hickman

Leo Hickman

Leo Hickman graduated in Art History at the University of Sussex in 1994. Leo is the Director and Editor of Carbon Brief, Leo previously worked for 16 years as a journalist, editor and author at the Guardian newspaper. Before joining Carbon Brief, he was WWF-UK͛s chief advisor on climate change. In 2013, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Exeter in recognition of his journalism. His books include A Life Stripped Bare, The Final Call and Will Jellyfish Rule the World?

Introducer: Dr Catherine Will

Catherine Will mirror flip

Catherine works on health technology, practices and participation drawing on theory from Science and Technology Studies and sociology. She is particularly interested in knowledge production - how people experiment or develop their understanding of their world - and the moments when knowledge claims are linked with the negotiation of standards or policies, but also seeks to explore situations that are more about caring and doing than knowing.