ICEM11 Final Program 9.7.11pm_ICEM07 Final Program ... - Events

2
ICEM’11 PERSPECTIVES
Thank you for being involved in the latest of the premier series of International Conferences on Environmental
and Radioactive Waste Management sponsored by ASME International (ASME). The final
ICEM’11 Conference Program should facilitate exchange of ideas to reduce risk, and avert the overwhelming
costs of delay in resolving environmental and radioactive waste management issues.
Meeting the high quality expectations of the event sponsors, the Societe Française d’Energie
Nucléaire (SFEN) and ASME, requires enabling contribution of: sponsors and exhibitors; dedicated volunteer
track and session chairs; and many others, from organizers to independent peer reviewers, and presen- Aníbal L. Taboas
ters. As Conference General Co-Chairs we recognize the exceptional leadership of Gary Benda (Conference
Manager) and Bernard Jolly (European Event Manager), whose intensive cooperation resulted in exceptional
planning and execution.
Our goal is to promote the necessary art, science & practice leading to sustainable global environmental
management. This includes overarching discussion to complement the plenary session key-note presentations.
Reims is specially fitting for its history as witness in evolution of the established world order.
Challenges to contemporary global order include interdependent economic imbalance, regime change,
zeal among newly-leading divergent populations, and reliance on electronic media as the primary source of Dominique Greneche
information. Volatility diverts focus from topic concepts like concerted environmental action, to insular needs (such as the nearterm
supply of food, water, and power, and security).
Industrialized nations remain as unprepared to relocate populations in response to predicted sea level changes, as they are for
the unprecedented strategic opportunity to transform the related supply and distribution of energy, food, commerce, and emerging
populations. Similarly, while the risk of sovereign debt is recognized, there is scant movement to recognize the equally obligatory
and non-discretionary nature of funding responsible environmental management. Ideological governance, however, continues
unabated, and without apparent realization that maintaining the health of wealth generating engines, particularly manufacturing
capability, is essential to sustainability.
Transitory ideologies and obstructionists successfully inflate uncertainty and perceived technical risk with tricks such as
reliance on non-rigorous or un-reproducible data, and extrapolation of performance expectations to absurd times. Projections that
significantly deviate from defensible models, theory, and observation, necessarily decrease confidence on projected results. The
misapplication of statistical methods, use of sloppy science, and the masterful use of mass communication tools, imparts plausibility
to ideological biases, and masks competence and applicability limitations.
Education imparts individual responsibility to ensure safety, advancement of technology, and to contribute to societal well-being.
Scientists, engineers, technologists, and learned societies have a unique duty to engage in discourse of public policy. Effective communication
is facilitated by simple and clear themes, such as: “Education, Energy, Environment, Economy, and National Security are
inextricably intertwined”; “Society demands to be actively aware of details that influence their reasonable expectation of an adequate
return on their investment in Governance”; and “Global partnerships are effective tools to demonstrate best-in-class performance.”
Individuals frequently feel powerless to influence global outcomes, however, success continues to favor those who properly
prepare to assess and manage risk. It is time for the technically educated to fulfill a responsibility for engagement at all levels of
government on science and technology policies affecting the public interest.
It is time to demand a return to basic principles, such as reliance on best available science, independent peer review; and
increased intellectual honesty in regulatory engineering. It is time, for example, to get past regulation of waste disposal mechanisms
according to the activity level and generating source, and to promulgate international guidelines to manage and dispose such waste
exclusively on the basis of sound multi-media risk management. It’s time to initiate transition of international efforts away from
insular engagement, and into supporting systematic approaches to inextricable factors.
Our challenge is for you to find ICEM’11 as stimulating, cost effective, and constructive, as we intend it to be, and that you
find it essential to join us for ICEM’13.
Aníbal L. Taboas
Dominique Greneche
ICEM’11 Conference General Co-Chairs