On the Verge – Interview with Dan Poneman on the Implications of Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine for Nuclear Energy (020)

In this episode, Dr. Natasha Bajema, Director of the Converging
Risks Lab (CRL) and Andrea Rezzonico, Deputy to the CEO of the
Council on Strategic Risks and Deputy Director of CRL, co-host an
interview with the Hon. Dan Poneman, who currently serves on the
Board of Directors for the Council on Strategic Risks.  We
discuss the implications of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine for
nuclear energy and talk about how the U.S. could reinvigorate its
leadership role on providing nuclear fuel and technology to
countries interested in off-setting carbon emissions by generating
electricity with nuclear power. In addition to his role on the CSR
Board, Mr. Poneman is president and chief executive officer of
Centrus Energy Corp. He has had a distinguished career with the
U.S. government, serving from 2009 to 2014 as the Deputy Secretary
of Energy and chief operating officer of the U.S. Department of
Energy. His responsibilities spanned the range of U.S. energy
policies and programs – hydrocarbons, renewables, nuclear, and
efficiency – including cybersecurity, project management, national
security, and international cooperation. Mr. Poneman has published
widely on national security issues. His most recent book, Double
Jeopardy: Combating Nuclear Terror and Climate Change, was released
by the MIT Press in May 2019. This interview with the Hon. Dan
Poneman is part of a series of pioneering work by CSR’s Converging
Risks Lab that began in 2017. Between 2017 and 2020, CRL took on
its first project, the Climate-Nuclear-Security Project (CNSP),
which brought together the experience and expertise housed within
the Center for Climate and Security (CCS) and the Nolan Center on
Strategic Weapons (The Nolan Center), as well as the broader
climate security and nuclear security policy communities. The CNSP
recognizes that climate and nuclear risks are growing more complex
and interconnected, and are beginning to converge in new ways.
Understanding and managing this risk landscape requires climate,
nuclear and security experts to break down issue sector barriers
and develop joint solutions. In 2022, CRL is thrilled to begin a
new, related line of work which builds upon the previous project to
help reinvigorate U.S. leadership on nuclear energy issues, with a
view toward improving nuclear safety, security and
nonproliferation.