PORT TOWNSEND — The public can hear from a Hanford expert who will comment on the future of nuclear energy future at Tuesday’s Jefferson County Energy Lunch Program.
The event will be from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Port Townsend Community Center, 620 Tyler St.
This brown-bag lunch talk is free and open to the public.
Gary Petersen, vice president of Tri-City Development Council, or TRIDEC, is the featured speaker.
He is in charge of programs relating to the future of the Hanford nuclear site in south-central Washington, a 586-square-mile tract about one-third the size of Rhode Island.
Created in World War II as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project, Hanford supplied weapons-grade plutonium for more than 60,000 nuclear weapons in the U.S. arsenal during the Cold War.
Fully decommissioned in 1987, a portion of the Hanford site is part of the largest environmental cleanup activity in the U.S., at a cost of $2 billion per year.
From his TRIDEC position on behalf of the Benton County cities of Richland, Kennewick and Pasco, Petersen will describe the Hanford property and clean-up operations.
He also will discuss current economic development plans, including continued operation of the Columbia Nuclear Power Plant and existing and future renewable energy projects.
For more information, visit www.L2020.org/Energy+Lunch+Programs.
The monthly Energy Lunch programs, held every third Tuesday, are aimed at increasing awareness of how energy, energy technology and energy policy affect life and business in Jefferson County.
Participants are welcome to bring their lunch and arrive at noon to join an informal conversation with local energy professionals.
The programs are sponsored by Power Trip Energy Corp., Sunshine Propane, Alaska Power & Telephone Co., the Port of Port Townsend, Frederickson Electric, Port Townsend Paper Corp., and Huber’s Inn.
