Intergenerational Equity: If we accept the benefits, shouldn't we clean up the mess?

Janet Kotra will use nuclear waste disposal as an example to explore what obligations we have to protect future generations.  In particular, does the generation (or generations) that benefits from the production of a particular hazard carry a special ethical or moral duty to protect future generations who may be exposed to the resultant hazards, but experience little or no benefits? If so, what are these duties?  Who should carry them out?  How should they be paid for?  Can they be minimized?  Is it foolish to even be concerned about them?

This forum is part of The Sunday Forum: Science, Reason & Religion of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Fairfax.  The forum is held in the Chapel.  All are welcome.

About Janet Kotra:  Janet earned a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Hawaii and a Ph.D. in Analytical, Nuclear and Environmental Chemistry from the University of Maryland.  She has over 28 years of experience in the study and regulation of radioactive waste management. She has been employed by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) since 1984.  After serving as a post-doctoral fellow for NRC’s Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards, and as a technical assistant for two NRC Commissioners, she joined NRC’s technical staff in 1993.  She was a major contributor to the development of NRC’s safety regulations for the proposed repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada.  Between 2008 and 2010 she worked as a part of NRC’s team of independent scientists and engineers, reviewing the license application for the proposed repository, as submitted by the U.S. Department of Energy.  Janet also served NRC as a senior project manager for regulatory communication.  She led more than three dozen meetings with citizens of affected counties and Tribes near Yucca Mountain.  She spoke with interested citizen groups about NRC’s role as an independent regulator and explained NRC’s public hearing and licensing process for deciding whether or not to allow construction of a proposed repository.  Janet was also a founding member, and since 2006, served as the Chairman of the Forum on Stakeholder Confidence, an international forum sponsored by the Nuclear Energy Agency, based in Paris.  In 2011 and 2012, Janet was honored to serve on an International Peer Review Panel that evaluated the long-term safety case that was presented as part of the application to the Swedish regulatory authorities for a deep geologic repository in Sweden. The panel’s report was presented to the Swedish Government in June.  Janet retired from NRC on June 30, 2012.