Bruce Robinson

Nuclear Waste Disposal And The Role Of Science In Decision Making
 

I would love to be able to tell you that ever since I entered Kindergarten, I knew I wanted to be a scientist. However, truth be told, when I was growing up I was much more interested in sports than any academic pursuits. As one of five children growing up in a middle class town in upstate New York, we followed avidly the progress of New York’s professional sports teams, in my case the Yankees, Knicks, and Giants. My heroes were Mickey Mantle and Walt Frazier (if you haven’t heard of them, ask your father!). Alas, I figured out before too long that although the spirit was willing, my skill level just wasn’t there for me to pursue sports. Although my family was not wealthy, I was fortunate to attend good public schools, and received a fine education that allowed me to figure out what I was good at. I got excellent grades in all subjects, but I did especially well in math and science.
 
With the help of some scholarships, loans, and support from my parents, I was able to attend Clarkson University, a small science and engineering school in Potsdam, New York. Aside from its reputation as a first-rate engineering school, Clarkson was and is known for its superb college hockey program and its frigid winter temperatures. I can still feel the biting cold, -40 degree temperatures against my face as I walked to and from classes. I entered Clarkson as an “Undecided Engineer,” knowing that the discipline of engineering appealed to me, but not yet figuring out which branch of engineering I wanted to pursue. I finally settled into chemical engineering because the breadth of the coursework in that curriculum would allow me to go in a variety of directions. I was also interested in nuclear engineering. Unfortunately, the Three Mile Island accident in 1979 happened during my Junior year in college. This event led me away from pursuing a graduate career in this area. I believe that my choice was common at that time. Aside from the direct blow that this accident dealt to the nuclear power industry, the impact on the educational choices of the young people of that era is still being felt. To grow again to its full potential, the nuclear power industry will need to attract a new generation of young people to the field of nuclear engineering.
 
Upon graduating with a B.S. from Clarkson, I faced a decision of entering the work world or going to graduate school. I chose the latter for two reasons. First, I had held two summer jobs as an engineering apprentice doing the work of a production engineer at manufacturing plants. Being a more analytical person by nature, these hands-on positions did not suit my skills. But these jobs were very valuable for me – they gave me a low-cost way to discover what I didn’t want to do for the rest of my life. On a more positive note, I was intrigued with the possibility of performing scientific research to solve big problems – energy issues were looming in the late 1970’s with large increases in oil prices and gasoline shortages. Graduate school gave me a way to immediately work toward that end, and to prepare myself for a career in energy research. When MIT’s chemical engineering department said “yes” to my application and offered me a research assistant position, it took me all of about two seconds to decide to take them up on that offer.
 
At MIT I met my thesis supervisor, Dr. Jefferson Tester, and embarked on a thesis research project on geothermal energy, specifically using tracers to investigate the flow of water through fractures in a geothermal reservoir. Jeff was a primary influence on my career, with his inquisitive style, keen intellect, and supportive nature. My first experience at Los Alamos came shortly after entering MIT, and I spent roughly half of my graduate school career in New Mexico, performing research at the Lab’s Hot Dry Rock geothermal site at Fenton Hill, in the Jemez Mountains. I worked alongside and learned from many staff members at the Lab. To single out just one, Bob Potter, the inventor of the Hot Dry Rock geothermal concept, had a tremendous impact on me. Bob taught me the simple truth that in science, you must let the facts guide your investigations. On many occasions, I can remember going off to investigate a concept or model that Bob and I had discussed, only to come back later and find that Bob had already discarded the model in favor of a new one that did a better job explaining the latest data we had collected at the Fenton Hill site. Bob taught me that you don’t need to treat your ideas like your children – if your models disappoint you, get rid of them find newer, better ones!
 
Upon receiving my Ph.D., I had job offers from three oil companies and Los Alamos. I chose Los Alamos for its world-class scientific staff and open research environment. If I had chosen an oil company, I almost certainly would have lost my job within months of being hired, as falling oil prices in the mid 1980’s led to extreme cost-cutting measures in which these companies jettisoned their entire R&D departments. As a staff member at Los Alamos, I continued to work on the geothermal energy project, and when that project fell victim to falling energy prices and a perceived lack of need for alternative energy sources, I migrated to projects that needed R&D on flow of fluids and chemicals through subsurface porous rocks. In one project, we worked to ensure the quality of groundwater beneath Los Alamos and assessed the impact of the Lab’s past activities on waters that residents of the area drink every day. But my main focus has been the Yucca Mountain Project, assessing the proposed site for permanently disposing the nation’s high level radioactive waste from nuclear reactors and unwanted byproducts from the country’s nuclear weapons enterprise. The project is vital to our ability to use nuclear power as a clean, reliable energy source in the future. It is an endlessly fascinating project, from the science to the political and social aspects. The challenge of providing estimates of the risk posed by the construction of a nuclear waste disposal facility millennia into the future is daunting, and requires creative scientific approaches. I also get to see how science impacts societal decisions, and how people from all walks of life process information and think about risk.
 
Throughout this journey, I’ve watched our approach to achieving a secure and sustainable energy future come full circle. We’ve gone from gasoline shortages and nuclear accidents, to an emphasis on renewable energy research, to a return to cheap oil, to a demand-driven scarcity of fossil fuels, to a potential renaissance in nuclear energy and renewable energy R&D. Having the opportunity to conduct research to find solutions to the complex and challenging issue of energy security is my chance to make contributions to the well being of our nation and the world. I’ll never regret choosing science as a career path – I guess not being able to hit the curveball was a blessing in disguise!