Dr. Arjun Makhijani has been fighting against the use of nuclear fission energy since his college days in the late 1960s. He was influenced by Professor Thomas Pigford at the University of California, Berkeley who lectured on the need to build 1000 nuclear reactors because using fission was better than depending on coal.
After hearing that lecture, Makhijani questioned the need for using so much power in the first place. He spent the next year developing what he called one of the first papers on energy efficiency. Makhijani earned his PhD in 1972. That PhD was awarded in Electrical Engineering. Here is the description of his PhD from his CV:
“Area of specialization: plasma physics as applied to controlled nuclear fusion. Dissertation topic: multiple mirror confinement of plasmas. Minor fields of doctoral study: statistics and physics.”
After earning his PhD, Makhijani spent the next two years working on the Ford Foundation Energy Policy Project. He was one of the principle authors of the report. He held a variety of academic positions during the period from 1979-1988
In 1987 Makhijani started working part time for the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IEER) which is located in Takoma Park, MD. In 1988 he became the President and Senior Engineer at IEER.
Takoma Park is also the home of NIRS and Beyond Nuclear. Robert Alvarez lived there at the time that he served in the Department of Energy.
It is a place where antinuclear activism is commonplace.
Dr. Makhijani abruptly ended the call, but I think you will enjoy the conversation anyway.
Links to documents mentioned during the discussion:
Carbon Free Nuclear Free (PDF download version)
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