2007 Press Releases
"The Nuclear Power Debate; Fact and Fiction", Public Lecture
Two major problems are facing the world; global warming and the peaking
and subsequent decline of oil and gas reserves. According to
Professor Philip W. Walton, Emeritus Professor of Applied Physics at
NUI, Galway who will deliver the next lecture of the Faculty of Science
Public Lecture Series at UCC, nuclear power, with no greenhouse gas
emissions and with very good fuel reserves, can help solve these
problems.
In his lecture titled "The Nuclear Power Debate; Fact and Fiction",
which takes place on Wednesday next, 24 January, Professor Walton will
describe how nuclear power works. He will put the risks posed by
nuclear power in context and outline how this technology can
significantly and critically supplement renewable energy in future,
thereby helping to bridge a critical period until safe, clean nuclear
fusion can take over supplying the world's energy needs.
Professor Walton received his primary physics and his PhD degrees
(1966) from Trinity College Dublin. He then worked for two years in the
Department of Clinical Physics and Bioengineering, Western Regional
Hospital Board in Scotland. In 1968 he joined the Medical College of
Virginia, USA where he became Associate Professor and Chairman of the
Radiation Physics Division. In 1978 he took up a new
Professorship in Applied Physics at the National University of Ireland,
Galway, from which he retired in 2005. He is now Emeritus Professor of
Applied Physics at NUI, Galway. He served for seven years on the
Board of the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland. He has
served as Radiological Protection Officer both at MCV and at NUI,
Galway.
The lecture takes place at UCC's Boole Lecture Theatre 4 at 8pm on
Wednesday, 24 January. The highly popular lecture series,
organised by Professor William Reville of the Faculty of Science, UCC,
continues weekly until 28 March 2007. Admission to the lecture is
free, and as always, members of the public are invited to attend.
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