The Environmental Impacts of Nuclear Disarmament
There are 80 small Chernobyls waiting to happen, in the form of Russian nuclear submarines parked near the Arctic Circle. Russia, unable to fulfill its obligations to decommission these submarines with active reactors, has left them to the forces of nature. Imagine what would happen if even one of these submarines were to experience an accident.
This scenario and countless other examples are the next wave of potential environmental disasters facing the world. This issue will be addressed during "Arms and Environment: The Perils of Nuclear Disarmament," an international symposium to be held December 9 - 10 at The University of Tulsa College of Law.
The symposium will be the starting point for an international discussion on the environmental impacts of nuclear disarmament, according to Dobie Langenkamp, a former TU law professor and former Deputy Assistant Secretary for the U.S. Department of Energy.
The symposium will focus on the global environmental impacts of disarmament, based on arms control agreements that call for the early retirement of weapons and delivery systems in more than one country. These environmental impacts, hitherto, have not satisfactorily been addressed, and this symposium will discuss how this challenge may be anticipated and better handled.
Featured speakers include: Lakshman Guruswamy, symposium director, TU professor of law and director of the National Energy-Environment Law and Policy Institute (NELPI); The Honorable Jayantha Dhanapala, Under Secretary General for Disarmament, United Nations; Jeffrey McNeely, chief scientist, World Conservation Union; Elizabeth Kirk, director, Europe and Central Asia Program, American Association for the Advancement of Science; Admiral William Crowe, former Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff and Ambassador to the United Kingdom; Eileen Choffnes, science policy advisor, United States Environmental Protection Agency; and Gary Vest, Acting Deputy Under Secretary, Environmental Security.
The program is cosponsored by The University of Tulsa College of Law, TU's NELPI and the University of Oklahoma International Programs Center Tulsa.
The symposium will be held on The University of Tulsa campus. For more information on the program or to request registration forms, call Sue Lorenz at (918) 631-2431 or log on to http://www.nelpi.org/events/armscontrol.
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For more information:
Mercedes Millberry
News and Marketing Manager, The University of Tulsa
(918) 631-2649; Fax: (918) 631-2035
[email protected]
Web: www.utulsa.edu/news
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