development > listening post

The world
needs a bouquet of
energy sources
38 > QATAR TODAY >APRIL 2015

Lady Barbara Judge CBE has

strong views on subjects ranging
from nuclear power to gender
equality in the oil and gas sector.
She also believes that Qatar has the
right conditions to pursue
nuclear energy.

f Lady Barbara Judge, Member of the

UAE Advisory Board for the Development of Peaceful Nuclear Energy,
looks formidable in her customary
dark suit, high-collared, stiff white
shirt, and her white blonde hair tucked
into a stern bun at the nape of her head, it is
deliberate. Everything about her especially her outfit, which doesnt change much
around the year, is resolute. Men are uncomfortable around women and why dress
in provocative outfits when you need them
to listen to what you have to say? she asks.
I want men to be so bored with my outfit
that they have to focus on what I am saying. And in that sense, the Arab womens
culture of dressing the black abaya resonates with her; she says, You cannot go
wrong with that.
Lady Judge believes very strongly in
equality in the workplace, encouraging
women to enter the workplace and, once
they are there, push the boundaries, all
because of the simple wisdom passed on
to her by her mother: Women should
work not because they are poor or alone,
divorced or single, not any of that, [but]
because they have a brain, they should use
it and they should earn their own money.
Money is independence and they should be
independent.
Speaking at the Gulf Intelligence Women
in Energy Summit held last month in Doha

By Sindhu Nair
on Historical Setting One Womans 50Year Journey, Lady Judge recounted her
career highs and some roadblocks faced and
scaled in an era when women professionals
were rare, especially in corporate boardrooms. She started her career as a corporate lawyer in 1969 and became a partner
at Kaye Scholer, Fierman, Hays & Handler
in 1978. One reason she was hired, she recounts, was because they wanted a woman
to fill the position. Half a decade later, she
still believes in the quota system: You need
to first get onto the ladder in order to climb
to the top.
But gender balance in the industry is not
the only subject that excites Lady Judge; it
is also clean energy and specifically nuclear energy. In 2002 she was appointed as a
Director of the United Kingdom Atomic
Energy Authority, became its Chairman in
2004 and was reappointed in 2007. After
completing two terms she was appointed
Deputy Chairman of the Tepco Nuclear Reform Committee and Chairman of its Task
Force on Nuclear Safety.
Her tryst with the Middle East began seven years ago, when she was last in Doha, to
give a talk on clean energy. She had then
predicted that the Middle East countries
are best suited for nuclear power projects
because these countries meet the conditions necessary to initiate this form of renewable energy. A stable political climate,

a rich country that can afford to build and

maintain a nuclear power plant, a strong
and enlightened leadership, high education
levels and an intelligent press that can comprehend and report the truth to make the
general public aware of the process and the
safety measures, she says, ticking off the
conditions needed for a country to pursue
nuclear energy.
I predicted then that sooner or later the
GCC countries will have nuclear energy,
she says. And the naysayers scoffed at my
statement.
Seven months later, Lady Judge was in
Abu Dhabi and met the ruler there, who expressed an interest in nuclear energy. Now
Abu Dhabi is in the process of building a
nuclear power plant and Lady Judge is on
the Advisory Board. The Emirates Nuclear
Energy Corporation, Unit 1 is expected to
provide electricity to the grid by 2017 and
will be the first one in the region. Plans
are on for the following three units to be
completed in 2018, 2019 and 2020.
Saudi Arabia, with 16% of the worlds
proven oil reserves and being the largest
exporter of total petroleum liquids in the
world, has started to think of nuclear power
plants. Things are changing. Oil and gas is
not forever, she says. While Qataris earlier
had said that they were not interested in
nuclear energy, according to Lady Judge,
they are now considering the benefits from
QATAR TODAY > APRIL 2015 > 39

development > listening post

this source of energy as their neighbours
are strongly pursuing it.
They have the risk anyway, being in
close proximity to Emirates Nuclear Energy Plant and Saudi Arabia (when it will
build its own reactor). There are also talks
of having a regional power plant, and I feel
thats the best way to go, by joining workforce, education and resources, she says.
I strongly believe that Qatar with a
knowledge-based economy has all the
conditions for nuclear energy to thrive,
she says.
Predictions aside, it is necessary for every country to have a diversified energy
mix, states Lady Judge. Any country that
aims at having energy security or energy
independence would need to have a bouquet of energy sources; it needs oil, it needs
gas, it needs renewables for people to feel
good about carbon emissions and it needs
nuclear energy, she emphasises.
Climate change is another factor that
makes nuclear energy lucrative. But what
about solar energy, the most abundant
source of energy in the desert region?
Doesnt it seem more practical to opt for
this renewable source than an option that
comes with its own set of risks? Which
source should a country lean towards in
this scenario?
There is no choice, she says. It should
be a mixture of all sources of energy.
Solar is an excellent source of energy in
conditions that are favourable but it is still
a top-up source of energy. Nuclear is a baseload energy source. There may be days
when there is less sun or still air. When this
source of energy fails you could find yourself in darkness. What you really need is a
combination, she clarifies.
Parts of the world at large seem to be
against nuclear power as a source of energy. Germany is a perfect example, with all
nuclear power plants shut down. It is all
a political decision in Germany, says Lady
Judge. It demonstrates how wrong it is to
turn away from nuclear energy. Germany
is now buying nuclear energy from neighbouring France and gas from Russia. It is
also burning coal and its carbon emissions
are going up. The country has gone from
being an energy exporter to an energy importer practically overnight, which brings
along with it a number of negative consequences for its economy, consumers and
security.
But it is also not true that the world
is losing its nuclear energy supporters
after the Fukushima incident. According to a survey done some time back, the

40 > QATAR TODAY >APRIL 2015

NUCLEAR ENERGY FACTS

AS OF JANUARY 21, 2015 IN

3I
439

COUNTRIES

NUCLEAR POWER PLANT UNITS

WITH AN INSTALLED ELECTRIC
NET CAPACITY OF ABOUT

377 GW
69

ARE IN OPERATION AND

PLANTS WITH AN INSTALLED

CAPACITY OF

66 GW
I6

ARE UNDER CONSTRUCTION IN

COUNTRIES.
Credit: IAEA

support for nuclear power appeared to have

bounced back in the UK after falling slightly
in the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster
and, as a result of the renewed trust shown
by the people, the UK is now building three
power plants.
Now there are even more countries pursuing or building nuclear energy plants
than there were before the Japan mishap;

Turkey, Vietnam, Korea, China, India and

Finland, are all building nuclear power
plants. Poland and Hungary are also in the
process of discussing prospects.
Lady Judge debunks another myth: Even
though the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan in March of 2011 was
a disaster of epic proportions, it was these
natural disastesr that left over 15,000 people dead and over 300,000 homeless. There
was a very serious accident at Fukushima
but, contrary to the hype and fear, no one
died due to the radiation. The problem
arose because people had to be evacuated
from their homes. Today, the food supply is safe and people are starting to move
back into their homes and most of the other
nuclear plants in Japan are considering a
restart.
As the Deputy Chairman of the Tepco
Nuclear Reform Committee and Chairman
of its Task Force on Nuclear Safety, Lady
Judge feels that having a woman representative from outside the country is symbolic of the change that Japan is undergoing
currently. She even has her own insights on
the ongoing antagonism for nuclear energy
projects: The problem in America, France
and UK is that it is highly educated women who are the most vocal against nuclear
energy, she says, and they are the ones
who need to be convinced about the safety
aspects of radiation. Education is vital according to Lady Judge and it is only through
enlightening the masses that the message
of nuclear energy can be spread.
Abu Dhabi is doing it the right way, she
says. Educating the masses through movies and public shows, talk shows at schools
and galleries.