The energy policy fallout from the disaster last March at Japan?s Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear plant has caused everything from the shutdown of nuclear programs in Germany to re-evaluations of plant designs and disaster plans here in the United States, according to UW-Madison expert Michael Corradini.
Corradini, a professor of nuclear engineering, spoke at the annual Engineers’ Day seminar in the College of Engineering. He also serves as co-chairman of an American Nuclear Society committee that studied the Fukushima disaster. In the U.S., Corradini said, nuclear plants are being required to review disaster plans. But nuclear energy will remain a part of the nation’s energy mix, he added, with older plants such as those in Wisconsin being upgraded to generate more power and a half-dozen new plants being built in the next couple of years.