Funds from this grant support a collaboration between Alan Krupnick and colleagues at Resources for the Future (RFF), and a team from the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), to develop suggested guidelines on effective ways to address high-priority pathways associated with shale gas development. Starting with a list of 15 risk pathways all identified as high priority by a diverse selection of knowledgeable industry insiders, environmentalists, and regulators, RFF will collect and integrate information on risks, mitigation costs, regulation, and best practices for each pathway, culminating in a cost-benefit and modeling analysis of regulatory options for addressing the least controversial, most pressing risks associated with shale gas extraction. EDF will then involve a small group of motivated leaders from industry, nongovernmental organizations, regulatory bodies, and academia in a sustained attempt to build a consensus around guidelines for risk mitigation in shale gas development that will aim at improving both government regulation and industry practices. Additional grant funds support outreach and educational efforts, including outreach through websites, newsletters, blogs, popular articles, discussion papers, conference presentations, and peer-reviewed articles.

This grant supports the work of Dr. Kenneth Medlock at Rice University to understand how new and proposed federal and local regulations will influence natural gas resource development and pricing in the United States. Medlock will identify the range of federal, state, and local policy options being proposed by specific stakeholders, legislators, and special interest groups regarding shale gas production in the United States. He will then specify several potential regulatory scenarios for analysis. Using the Rice World Gas Trade Model, he will then quantify the impact of proposed changes in regulation and taxation on the pace and scope of natural gas resource development and on the price of natural gas in different regions of the world. This analysis will allow him to highlight the regional and global market implications and the international geopolitical implications of the potential policies. Grant funds will support an initial exploratory workshop to identify relevant policies; analysis and modelling; an interim workshop; and a major capstone conference once his analysis is completed. Written products will include two to three academic papers, six to eight economic modeling projections with regional focus, a study monograph, and a policy white paper.

Since 2009, with support from the Sloan and Hewlett Foundation’s, the Arius Association has been working to promote regional nuclear waste repositories outside of Europe. If such repositories could be brought into existence, they would result in the centralized disposal of dangerous nuclear wastes in a manner that would be more cost-effective, safe, and secure (from both a nonproliferation and dirty bomb perspective) than if each country with a small nuclear power program had responsibility for disposing of its own high-level nuclear waste. Funds from this grant provide support for Arius’ continued work on this issue, including an expansion of the scope of their efforts to include discussion of regional repositories for radioactive wastes from universities, hospitals, and industry. Supported activities over the next two years include a series of workshops in Arab regions and in Asia; the production of a draft constitution and work program for a regional nuclear repository organization; development of an IAEA report on multinational nuclear waste repositories; and a series of high-level papers aimed at specialists and policymakers.

This grant supports activities in support of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences' (AAAS) Global Nuclear Future Initiative, an international effort that focuses on increasing the security of nuclear materials, strengthening the global nuclear regime, and solving the unresolved problem of what to do with spent nuclear reactor fuel. Led by Stephen Miller, Director of Harvard University's International Security Program, the project aims to build international consensus around a series of prescriptions for strengthening nuclear security, including principles governing the development of regional nuclear storage facilities; best practices governing contracts between suppliers, customers, and government entities; and the proper arrangements connecting nuclear fuel storage and disposal. Supported activities under this grant include the convening of regional meetings of key stakeholders in government, industry, and non-governmental organizations and the commissioning of conference presentations and publishable research papers by respected experts, academics, and practitioners in the field.