Earlier this week, I discussed several encouraging aspects of a big intergovernmental meeting on clean energy that was held earlier this week in San Francisco. But I lamented that the agenda lacked any discussion of the role of nuclear energy in moving beyond fossil fuels in this century. (Keep in mind that even if you hate existing or planned nuclear plants, this energy source is still advancing in many countries, so discussing issues related to safety and security, as well as cost, would seem wise.)

Happily, Stanford University’s Precourt Energy Efficiency Center* filled in the Bay Area energy gap on Friday with a Silicon Valley Energy Summit, centered on a rousing and informed debate over this proposition: “The World Needs a Nuclear Renaissance.” Even better, for folks who were not there (like me) it was streamed live and archived on YouTube:

Those speaking for the proposition were two Nobel laureates in physics, the former energy secretary Steven Chu, now a Stanford professor, and Burton Richter, emeritus director of the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and author of a book on energy that I covered here quite awhile ago. Those against were no slouches: Ralph Cavanagh, senior attorney and co-director of the energy program at Natural Resources Defense Council, and Daniel Kammen, the director of the Renewable & Appropriate Energy Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley (who is also deeply involved in assessing nuclear technologies).

I hope you’ll watch and weigh in. Everyone made solid points because, as is so often the case, there is no single answer.

At the end, the skilled moderator, Jeffrey Ball, a former Wall Street Journal energy reporter who now lectures at Stanford, queried the audience to see which argument prevailed.