Overview of the global status of nuclear power today and discussion of future projections of nuclear power use, growing energy demand, and the relationship between climate change mitigation and nuclear power, as presented by M.V. Ramana, Associate Research Scholar with the Nuclear Futures Laboratory and the Program on Science and Global Security, Woodrow Wilson School.

An historical overview of electricity generation through the technology of nuclear fission, as presented by M.V. Ramana, Associate Research Scholar with the Nuclear Futures Laboratory and the Program on Science and Global Security, Woodrow Wilson School.

Erik Vanmarcke, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Associated Faculty with the Princeton Environmental Institute; Alexander Glaser, Assistant Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and International Affairs, Woodrow Wilson School; M.V. Ramana, Associate Research Scholar with the Nuclear Futures Laboratory and the Program on Science and Global Security, Woodrow Wilson School; and Frank von Hippel, Professor of Public and International Affairs, Woodrow Wilson School. Introductions by Hal Feiveson *72, Senior Research Policy Analyst, the Program on Science and Global Security, and Lecturer in Public and International Affairs, Woodrow Wilson School and Christina Paxson, Dean of the Woodrow Wilson School and Hughes-Rogers Professor of Economics and Public Affairs. Panelists assess the 2011 Japanese earthquake and the resulting nuclear crisis at Fukushima from various perspectives: the cause and progression of events responsible for the crisis, its resulting safety lessons, and the overall impact on ensuring the safety of existing nuclear reactors.

Excerpts from the 8th Annual Public Affairs Forum policy-making seminar by M.V. Ramana, Associate Research Scholar, Nuclear Futures Laboratory and the Program on Science and Global Security, Woodrow Wilson School; Eric Larson, Research Engineer, Princeton Environmental Institute and Lecturer in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering; and Laura Kahn *02, Research Health Policy Scholar, Woodrow Wilson School and the WWS Program on Science and Global Security. In the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear crisis, presenters discuss nuclear power technology, safety, waste disposal and public opinion, with a focus on electricity generation and environmental impact in New Jersey, "smart grid" technology, and an overview of the health risks and policy decisions associated with nuclear accidents.

The economic, safety, construction, and ideological challenges confronting the future of nuclear power, as presented by M.V. Ramana, Associate Research Scholar with the Nuclear Futures Laboratory and the Program on Science and Global Security, Woodrow Wilson School.

Charles E. Kessel, Jr., Principal Engineer, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, presents a technological overview of nuclear fusion energy.

Robert Goldston *77, Professor of Astrophysical Sciences, Affiliated Faculty with the Princeton Program on Science and Global Security, and former Director of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, explains the benefits and risks of nuclear power, specifically from the standpoints of climate change mitigation and nuclear proliferation.

Kennette Benedict, Executive Director of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and Editor, Mindy Kay Bricker, discuss the Bulletin's evolution over the past six decades as an information source on the development of nuclear technology, its applications, and effects.