The Rational View podcast with Dr. Al Scott

‘What about the waste?‘ with Sheila Whytock

As part of my series leading up to the Stand Up for Nuclear events coming up in September I'm interviewing another Canadian organizer and a nuclear industry professional. We discuss the controversy over Canada's Deep Geological Repository. One of the leading options for long-term mitigation of nuclear waste hazards.
Sheila Whytock is a nuclear operator at Bruce Power, in Ontario Canada. Sheila got her BA at Laurentian University, her Bachelor of Education at Wilfrid Laurier University, and completed a power operator apprenticeship while working for Bruce Power. She was raised on a beef farm in Orillia, and now resides in Teeswater, one of the potential host sites for Canada’s deep geological repository.

Sheila is co-founder of “Willing to Listen”, a grassroots group interested in pursuing the facts and benefits associated with potentially hosting a DGR in their community. Along with this, she is also host of the podcast “Willing to Listen”, board member of Canadians for Nuclear Energy, local contact for Mothers for Nuclear Canada and local organizer of Stand Up for Nuclear events within Ontario.
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#therationalview #podcast #nuclearenergy #greenenergy #atomicenergy #nuclearreactor #nuclearwaste #netzeroneedsnuclear #cleanenergy #chernobyl #radiation #atomic

Electrification and Climate with Edgardo Sepulveda

In this episode I am excited to interview an economist to investigate the market dynamics associated with energy transitions and provide insights on what is needed to electrify our economy and get us to net zero carbon.
Edgardo Sepulveda has been a telecommunications economist for 25 years, the last 15 with his consulting firm in Toronto, Canada. He was born in Chile and has an MA in Economics. As part of his civic policy-related engagement, he also writes about electricity, inequality, COVID-19 and other issues, including at the Progressive Economics Forum, where he wrote the blog that we discuss on this episode (https://t.co/oLW4gBeD7Y?amp=1). Edgardo has been the guest on a number of other energy-related podcasts; his Twitter handle is @E_R_Sepulveda.
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#therationalview #podcast #climate #energy #greenenergy #netzero #nuclearenergy #atomicenergy #netzeroneedsnuclear

Stand Up For Nuclear with Paris Ortiz Wines

On this episode I’m interviewing Paris Ortiz Wines: Global Director of Stand Up For Nuclear  As the Global Director of Stand Up, Paris oversees all of the organization’s outreach and engagement efforts. She has spearheaded in-person demonstrations and social media campaigns around the world, growing Stand Up from a single event to 67 events across 28 countries.  
`Paris began her career at Environmental Progress, an environmental non-profit organization that fights to protect nuclear plants around the world from premature closure. In 2 years she went from being an Executive Assistant to a Junior Analyst, revising energy analysis reports, leading research groups, and organizing international conferences. It was during her time at EP that she fell in love with nuclear and committed herself to fight for the development of sustainable energy. Wanting to concentrate on growing a grassroots movement for nuclear power, she left EP and transitioned into her role at Stand Up for Nuclear. Paris continues to mobilize and assist allies around the world in building their network and developing their strategy. 
Paris graduated from the University of California-Santa Cruz with a degree in Environmental Studies.
Standupfornuclear.org
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#therationalview #podcast #nuclear #greenenergy #cleanenergy #standupfornuclear #netzeroneedsnuclear #nuclearenergy #atomicenergy  

The Rational View podcast retrospective

Welcome to summer vacation 2021! This podcast is a short retrospective on the last year and a bit of my foray into podcasting. I hope you have enjoyed it, and thank you for listening!
Remember to come out this September to support your local Stand Up for Nuclear event. I'll be helping to organize one in Ottawa on Parliament Hill on Saturday September 25th from 2-4pm. Come on out and show your support for Canada's nuclear heroes!
Also please support the Tax the Gas and Save Pickering petition. Let's make sure Ontario doesn't regress in 2024. Check it out at taxthegas.org.
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#therationalview #podcast #NetZeroNeedsNuclear #nuclearenergy #atomicenergy #greenenergy #cleanenergy #energytransition

Tax the Gas and Save Pickering with Dr. Chris Keefer

One of our most important issues in society today is the transition from fossil fuels to zero carbon emission sources. One of the keys of this transformation is to significantly increase the fraction of nuclear energy in our energy portfolio.
Dr. Chris Keefer is an emergency physician, medical simulation educator, nuclear energy advocate and a popular podcaster. He is the President of Canadians for Nuclear Energy and the Director of Doctors for Nuclear Energy and the host of the Decouple Podcast. He also has another honour –the first repeat guest on The Rational View!
Since our first interview I’ve gotten to know Chris a lot better through Canadians for Nuclear Energy and he constantly amazes me with his energy and focus on nuclear advocacy. In this episode we discuss a new advocacy campaign called 'Tax the Gas'.  Go to https://taxthegas.org to join this movement and ask the government to reverse the carbon tax exemptions for fossil fuel natural gas, and also to refurbish the Pickering nuclear plant which we will need to power our electric cars with negligible CO2 emissions.
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#therationalview #podcast #netzeroneedsnuclear #taxthegas #greenenergy #nuclearenergy #atomicenergy #nuclearreactor #cleanenergy

Gender equity in STEM fields with Dr. Merryn McKinnon

This podcast continues my focus on communication of science and gender issues in STEM. In the previous podcast on this topic I surveyed women going into the field of science, and a professional female engineer to get their opinions. In this episode I interview a researcher who is studying these issues.
Dr Merryn McKinnon's original degree was in marine science where, after the novelty of moving intertidal snails with a paint scraper wore off, she discovered that talking about her research to other people brought her far closer to her conservation goals than her actual project ever could.
This led her to the field of science communication where she has stayed ever since, working in a range of roles and countries. Merryn enjoys the diverse issues science communication allows her to explore, applying her innovative thinking and problem solving skills.
Merryn has worked and conducted qualitative and quantitative research nationally and internationally, in both non-academic and academic roles. She regularly contributes to ABC Radio on ABC Sydney's Nightlife and Radio National's Research Filter, talking about interesting science from around the world. Merryn designs and delivers science communication workshops, as well as workshops specifically for women in STEM.
Merryn's research contributes to a better understanding of the relationship between science, media and the public. She conducts research which explores why publics react and respond to scientific issues the way they do in a variety of different disciplines including public health and conservation science. She is actively building a research program exploring the influence of equity, inclusion and intersectionality in STEM, especially STEM communication.
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#therationalview #podcast #science #STEM #genderissues #genderequity #womeninSTEM #womeninscience #scicomm #womenempowerment #steminist #womeninengeineering #sciencecommunication

Dr. Charles Hall on sustainable energy sources

Energy Return on Investment (EROI) is an important figure of merit for energy sources that tells us whether we get out more energy than we put in, and if so, how much effort it takes to run a vibrant society. I ask 'the father of EROI', Professor Charlie Hall, whether renewable energy is actually a sustainable resource able to power society's transition from fossil energy. In this interview, Prof. Hall describes how renewable energy sources are only sustainable when they form a small fraction of our electrical grid.  
World-renowned Professor Emeritus Charles Hall has been a research scientist since 1970, and started teaching in 1972. His work has focused mainly on energy sources. As cheap high return energy sources start to decline his analysis of the impacts of energy return on investment on society have gained prominence. He is interested in understanding the effects of peak oil and declining EROI on economic growth and possibilities, and how that might play out in the developing world. Many of these issues come full circle to the limits to growth arguments that emerged in the 60’s and 70’s.
He is an AAAS Fellow, a Fulbright Fellow (Argentina) and was named one of the 100 Outstanding World Scientists of 2004. He is a recipient of the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Creative Research, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Society for BioPhysical Economics. His work with Murphy and Balogh, “What is the Minimum EROI that a Sustainable Society Must Have?”, was featured as the 10th Anniversary Best Paper published in the Journal Energies for Hall, Murphy and Balogh.
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#therationalview #podcast #science #evidencebased #EROI #greenenergy #renewableenergy #nuclearenergy #atomicenergy #sustainability 

The physics of UFOs with Robert Powell

The Pentagon has recently declassified footage of UFO observations, and provided a summary report including an expert assessment of the data. Is the truth out there? Are we being visited by little green men from another planet? I provided a review in an earlier podcast UFOs & Aliens.  It’s now time for the Rational View to have another look.
Robert Powell has a BS in Chemistry. He has 28 years experience in engineering management in the semiconductor industry. He is a founding Board member of the Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies (SCU). He was the Director of Research at the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) from 2007-2017 and created MUFON's Science Review Board in 2012. Robert is a co-author of a book published in July 2012: UFOs and Government: A Historical Inquiry and is an author of a book designed for children published in Nov. 2020 entitled, The Truth About UFOs: A Scientific Perspective.
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#therationalview #podcast #ufos #evidencebased #science #uav #mufon #scu #ufos #aliens #ufosightings

Environmental Advocacy with Dr. Ben Heard

In this episode I chat with Dr. Ben Heard about environmental advocacy and communicating science-based viewpoints in a polarised debate. Dr. Heard provides his assessment on the rationality of the anti-nuclear lobby.
Dr. Ben Heard is recognised as a leading voice for the use of nuclear technologies to address our most pressing global challenges.
It certainly didn’t start that way.
Back in the day he was a member of environmental NGOs and shared their basic objection to nuclear technologies. After completing a Masters in Sustainability he started working in major projects in climate change. But there was just no solution on offer to match the scale of the problems at hand. So instead of continuing his objection to nuclear technology he shut his damn mouth about it for a couple of years and did some learning. That was the start of pathway of writing, presenting, advocating and ever more learning about how we can reinvent the future using all our knowledge and ingenuity. 
Ben was awarded his doctorate from the University of Adelaide in 2018, where he examined clean energy supply with a focus on nuclear technologies. He has presented his research findings at conferences around Australia and the world. He founded Bright New World in 2016 to provide a new organisation for people who want pragmatic, compassionate, and science-based environmentalism, in particular that values the role of nuclear technologies. 
Ben lives in Adelaide, South Australia where he works in the private sector on energy and asset performance projects. He features as one of the global voices in the documentary Juice: How Electricity Explains the World.
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#therationalview #podcast #science #evidencebased #nuclear #greenenergy #nuclearenergy #atomicenergy #nuclearpower #netzeroneedsnuclear #ecomodernism 

Gender Issues in STEM with Clare Scott and Sarah Kerns

Gender bias in STEM fields is an important issue in society. Women are statistically underrepresented in STEM fields and although gains have been made, the problem remains. This is a timely issue to discuss now: due to the pandemic, many more women than men have left the workforce to care for children. We need to be aware that many of the gains that have been made have recently eroded.
Many will claim that women are not as interested in STEM fields, perhaps they are biologically different than men. I think this attitude is a cop-out and is dangerous to society.  I believe that one reason that anti-science sentiment has had an easy time taking hold in society is that many women expect to encounter discrimination and barriers in these fields. Anyone with this expectation is likely to seek answers elsewhere.  By maintaining these barriers, even unconsciously, men in STEM fields alienate potential allies.  We need to work actively to identify and mitigate cultural barriers and attitudes that dissuade women from successful careers in STEM.
As an introduction to the issue I interview my daughter, Clare Scott, who has just graduated from high school with top marks in her class. She will be starting at McGill University in the fall for Environmental Sciences. She is also an avid highland dancer. I discuss her perceptions of gender bias as she prepares for her post-secondary education in a STEM field.
I also imposed upon my talented wife, Ms. Sarah Kerns who has been an electrical and software engineer in a male-dominated field for over 10 years to provide her perspective and insights from her experience on these issues. Sarah was lead software test engineer for Canada's James Webb Space Telescope Fine Guidance Sensor.
 
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#therationalview #podcast #STEM #womeninSTEM #gender #discrimination #science #womeninscience #womenempowerment #womenintech #girlswhocode #engineering #STEMeducation #TOK