Nuclear Safety Expert Robert Budnitz to Discuss Fukushima Disaster

Media contact: Noelle Lemoine, communications assistant; tele: (413) 597-4277; email: [email protected]

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., July 6, 2011— On Monday, July 11, at 7 p.m., Robert Budnitz, a nuclear engineer at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, will present “The Fukushima Nuclear Reactor Accident: What Happened and What Does It Mean?” at Williams College. The talk will be in Brooks-Rogers Recital Hall and is free and open to the public.

Budnitz will provide technical details in laymen’s terms about what happened at the Fukushima reactors during the March earthquake and tsunami, explain the radioactive releases that followed, and illustrate the consequences of the disaster for Japan. In addition, he will elaborate on the event’s potential impact on America’s current nuclear power programs and future energy aspirations. The 45-minute presentation will be followed by a Q-and-A session moderated by Williams physics professor Tiku Majumder.

Having spent most of his professional career in the field of nuclear energy and its waste management, Budnitz became involved with the Fukushima events immediately after they occurred. President Obama placed Secretary of Energy Steven Chu in charge of coordinating the U.S. response. Chu, in turn, named five advisers, including Budnitz, to provide the scientific expertise needed to guide the department’s efforts.

Budnitz graduated from Yale and received his Ph.D. at Harvard in experimental physics. He was born and raised in Pittsfield and graduated from Pittsfield High School.

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Published July 6, 2011