From Local to Global: Energy Issues and Climate Change

Nuclear Energy Brings Hope

TUESDAY – OCTOBER 25, 2022 – 7:30 PM (PDT)

TOWN HALL SEATTLE DOWNSTAIRS ROOM: The Forum

1119 8th Ave (Entrance off Seneca St.)

Seattle, Washington 98101 (Live Streaming available, see tickets below)

Extreme weather events, such as heat waves, drought, along with forest fires, glaciers melting, sea level rise and acidification tell us it is time to stop using fossil fuels. Our experienced panel will discuss local to global energy issues in the face of climate change.
We’ll include, first, the state of energy in Washington. How much energy do we need for the future? Can we avoid blackouts? Second, we’ll address international energy supplies affected by the Ukraine war and world energy needs.
And finally, the panel will delve into changing attitudes towards nuclear energy and the rationale for more nuclear energy.

Here for tickets
Tickets $5, under 22 Free
Virtual $5
Tickets $5, under 22 Free
Virtual $5

Dr. James Conca – Geo-environmental scientist, specializing in nuclear waste, and an EPA/State environmental consultant
Scott Montgomery – Geoscientist and energy policy expert on faculty at the Jackson School of International studies – UW and New York Times recognized author
Dr. Nick Touran – Nuclear physicist who has been interviewed on NPR’s Science Friday, working on next generation nuclear design for nuclear innovation company, Terra-Power
Moderated by Leila El-Wakil, MD

Nuclear Power is Clean and Inexpensive: What about the Waste? August 29, 2022

Science Update with Dr. James Conca

Dry Cask Storage

Zoom event, Monday, August 29, 2022, 7pm-9pm PDT

Please register at: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZElfu6tpz8jG9eoYK61t7b-LPogPZWL3lQw

Nuclear power plants generate reliable and clean electricity – with the lowest lifecycle CO2 emissions of any power source. They also create waste in the form of used nuclear fuel. This is your chance to hear from a nuclear waste scientist with years of experience dealing with these issues.

  • What is nuclear waste?
  • What are its hazards?
  • How is it stored today?
  • What are the long-term plans?
  • How much waste do we make?
  • What is the composition of nuclear waste?
  • How does it compare to fossil fuel waste?

Dr. James Conca will give a lively and interesting talk. He is a scientist in the field of the earth and environmental sciences for 33 years, specializing in geologic disposal of nuclear waste, energy-related research, planetary surface processes, radiobiology and shielding for space colonies, subsurface transport and environmental clean-up of heavy metals. He is a Trustee of the Herbert M. Parker Foundation, Adjunct at WSU, an Affiliate Scientist at LANL and consult on strategic planning for the DOE, EPA/State environmental agencies, and industry including companies that own nuclear, hydro, wind farms, large solar arrays, coal and gas plants. He also consults for EPA/State environmental agencies and industry on clean-up of heavy metals from soil and water.

Seattle Friends of Fission and Citizens Climate Lobby-Snohomish are jointly putting on this event.

August 10th: Global Politics & Energy on a Warming Plant at Bickersons Brewhouse

See our next event below

Join us for a Live Event!
Cascadia Climate Action presents Climate Science on Tap

Bickersons Brewhouse 1514 NW Leary Way
in Ballard
Wednesday   August 10th  7 PM

Nick Touran, Ph.D, Nuclear Physicist at TerraPower and Scott Montgomery, M.S., Jackson School of International Studies at University of Washington.

Admission Free or Donation (to Cascadia Climate Action), Stranger Tickets

All Ages

Food Truck

Join a conversation around current developments in the Energy Transition and its geopolitical realities with a nuclear engineer and an expert on energy policy.

The geopolitics of energy plays a key and dynamic role in modern life, affecting many aspects of international decision-making. This truth has been more than highlighted by Russia’s war in Ukraine. Issues surrounding energy are critical to security relationships and are central to all considerations of climate change and its impacts.

Event sadly Cancelled. Will reschedule

Join us for a live get together at a covered outdoor Brewhouse! Or Live-Stream at https://linktr.ee/SeattleFoF

Global Politics, Climate Change, and Nuclear Power

The geopolitics of energy plays a key and dynamic role in modern life, affecting many aspects of international and global decision-making. This truth has been more than highlighted by Russia’s war in Ukraine. Issues surrounding energy are critical to security relationships among regions and nations and are central to all considerations of climate change and its impacts. 

Innovation in energy technology today is at the core of the Energy Transition. It has the goals of mitigating global warming and creating more sustainable, less polluting systems for society. In a bold move, the European Union has now accepted nuclear power as a means to help achieve these goals. Such acceptance reflects, in part, growing global Interest in the new technology of Small Modular Reactors (SMRs).

Come hear a conversation between a nuclear scientist and an energy policy expert on this and other essential developments related to the Energy Transition and its geopolitical realities.

Nick Touran, PhD. A nuclear engineer in Seattle working on the design of an advanced nuclear reactor for a nuclear innovation company, TerraPower. He developed and maintains his website whatisnuclear.com and was a guest on NPR Science Friday.

Scott Montgomery. He is an author, geologist, and affiliate faculty member in the Jackson School of International Studies, University of Washington. He writes, teaches, and lectures on a wide variety of topics related to energy (geopolitics, resources, nuclear power, climate change).

The Energy Pie Needs A Slice Of Nuclear


Register in advance for this meeting:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIqd-ihrTkjEtKa1sc13e78vfIxcF1QXxcQ
Washington’s energy needs are going to continue to increase given climate change ,growth and electrification, at the same time, we have to stop using fossil fuels. This presents us with a daunting challenge. The solution is to be sure we include nuclear power in our energy mix.

Join us and learn how nuclear power works, what a Green New Deal for our state would look like, and ask all the questions you may have.

Dr. James Conca will give a lively and interesting talk. He is scientist in the field of the earth and environmental sciences for 33 years, specializing in geologic disposal of nuclear waste, energy-related research, planetary surface processes, radiobiology and shielding for space colonies, subsurface transport and environmental clean-up of heavy metals. He is a Trustee of the Herbert M. Parker Foundation, Adjunct at WSU, an Affiliate Scientist at LANL and consult on strategic planning for the DOE, EPA/State environmental agencies, and industry including companies that own nuclear, hydro, wind farms, large solar arrays, coal and gas plants. He also consults for EPA/State environmental agencies and industry on clean-up of heavy metals from soil and water.

Nuclear Technology for Earth and Space

Register for a fun and informative talk https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0kcuirqTMrEtxBvb2wk3l_EweXdqHe9V38

Nuclear energy is a key technology for both Earth and Space. Join Dr. Christopher Morrison, from Ultra Safe Nuclear, while he discusses the wide-ranging applications of nuclear energy focusing on his work in both fission and radioisotope power systems. These include micro modular reactors for Earth, lunar reactors, medical radioisotopes, and even the NASA NIAC Extra-Solar Express mission study proposing to return a sample from a comet from outside our solar system. Plenty of time at the end for Q & A.

Dr. Christopher Morrison is an Astro Nuclear Engineer at USNC-Tech in Seattle, Washington. He is the product lead for the EmberCoreTM radioisotope power technology (https://usnc.com/embercore/ ). This technology enables nuclear to power small compact systems for remote locations on Earth and in space. EmberCoreTM can be used to monitor the climate in ways not possible before.
Dr. Morrison graduated from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in 2012 with a B.S. in aerospace engineering and computer science. His passion for aerospace led him to nuclear. He sees nuclear as a key technology for enabling humanity to explore beyond Earth orbit.
He pursued his Ph.D. in nuclear engineering and graduated in 2017 from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Chris is a NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts Program (NIAC) Fellow, Department of Energy’s Nuclear Energy University Program Fellow, member of the Explorer’s club, and founder of https://sign-language-blitz.

Decarbonizing now: the Natrium Project in Wyoming

Tuesday, January 11, 2022 From 7pm – 9pm Pacific Time

Register in advance for this meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwud-qtrT8uGtEHW2aMTnhXd55KNNyrEf3b

Moving from coal to clean nuclear power in Wyoming, the Natrium Reactor Project will be built, providing jobs, and reliable, safe, resilient clean energy.
This is incredibly exciting as it will be the first next-gen (IV) reactor built in the United States. How it fits into the energy mix of today and tomorrow will be discussed by a lead on the project.


Join us for a Zoom talk and bring your questions.


We are fortunate to have Mark Werner, a mechanical engineer who develops and leads engineering teams that design advance reactor concepts focused on impacting future energy markets. Mark has worked in plant layout and design, reactor system and equipment design, reactor core design and fuel design in his past positions. Mark has worked for TerraPower for 10 years, and prior to that worked on Reactor designs for the US Navy’s nuclear fleet at Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory in upstate NY. Mark has a M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Union College and B.S. in Mechanical Engineering (Drexel University).

Nuclear 101 in 2021

Nick Touran and Waffles

Join Seattle Friends of Fission and Nick Touran, on Zoom, December 14 at 7pm

Register in advance for this meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0tcOqtqDgoE9PSpDg7U5MLPUAr6nCrjbvL

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Nick will give a brief talk about how nuclear energy works, why we need it to slow down climate change, and especially to answer all your questions about safety, waste, radiation, and more. This is your chance to ask the questions that make you step back and take a breath when you hear us say we need nuclear!

Nick Touran, PhD., is a nuclear engineer working on advanced nuclear reactors at TerraPower. He is helping develop technical solutions to world energy challenges.  He is the founder of the nuclear public-education website whatisnuclear.com. He stays super busy with his hobbies of photography, electronics, motorcycles, ham radio, and hiking among others.

Educating Seattle about Nuclear Power and it’s role along with other green energy sources for a better world.

Update: Nuclear Energy – What About The Waste
Tuesday, October 12,  2021,  7 pm (PST) to 9 pm

Nuclear power plants generate clean electricity – without CO2 emissions. They also create waste in the form of used nuclear fuel.

https://powerconferenceinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/james-conca.jpg
  • What is nuclear waste?
  • What are its hazards?
  • How is it stored today?
  • What are the long-term plans?
  • How much waste do we make?
  • What is the composition of nuclear waste?
  • How does it compare to fossil fuel waste?

Dr. James Conca is an environmental waste expert, Forbes.com contributor on energy and environmental issues and a nuclear waste scientist for over 30 years.

You are invited to a Zoom meeting.

When: Oct 12, 2021 07:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)

Register in advance for this meeting:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcof-igpjMoEtVAGFZ_hb9zCJIyFi4TjSwa

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Seattle’s Stand Up For Nuclear

Seattle Friends of Fission is joining 40+ cities around the globe to recognize nuclear power’s clean, dependable, safe energy to fight climate change.


 Westlake Park (4th and Pike)

Saturday, September 18th, 2021, 11am to 4pm

Join us at the park or online (starting at 12 noon) to talk and share information. Click here to join on Youtube. Click here to join on Facebook.

  • Did you know that Washington is at risk for rolling blackouts during extreme heat events like we saw in June and August?
  • Seattle is going to need more clean energy to electrify our transportation.  Additionally, when drought reduces our hydropower,  that gap will need to be filled. Nuclear’s clean energy can supply these needs.
  •  Seattle Friends of Fission is proud to join Stand Up For Nuclear to tell people about the importance of nuclear power and dispel widespread myths about the technology.   Our participants are environmentalists, scientists, activists, engineers, and doctors. 
  • For more information or to contact us go to our Facebook page.

Video of the Event