摘要

This lecture will outline some of the background and conclusions of the 2006/2007 review of the nuclear fuel cycle and its possible role in Australia, from uranium mining to electricity generation. The presentation will cover aspects of uranium production, greenhouse gas emissions from competing technologies, the scale of nuclear power world-wide, the predicted cost of electricity generation in Australia, and some of the (serious and not so serious) issues associated with politics, waste, public perception and public acceptance. （George Dracoulis was a member of the Prime Minister’s Task Force that carried out the Uranium Mining, Processing and Nuclear Energy Review – fondly known as UMPNER, in 2006/2007.）

报告人简介

George Dracoulis was Head of the Department of Nuclear Physics at the Australian National University from 1992 to 2009. The Department operates a major Accelerator Facility used by Australian and International Researchers for basic science and applied studies using nuclear techniques. His own research interests, pursued at both local and international facilities, are in the spectroscopy and structure of unusual nuclear states. He has published widely on nuclear structure topics including shape co-existence, the properties of high-spin isomers in trans-lead nuclei, and the structure and applications of high-K isomers.

He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, a Fellow of the American Physical Society and a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Physics. He was awarded a Centenary Medal in 2003 and was the recipient of the Australian Academy of Science’s Lyle Medal for distinguished research in physics in 2003. He was awarded the Australian Institute of Physics’ Walter Boas Medal for excellence in research in Physics in 2004 and the Chancellor’s award for distinguished service to the University and science, in 2009. He served as divisional associate editor (nuclear physics) in Physical Review Letters.