Hello I'm Kirsty Young. Thank you for downloading this podcast of Desert Highland Disks from BBC Radio 4.

For rights reasons, the music choices are shorter than in the radio broadcast.

For more information about the program, please visit BBC.co.uk.

Radio 4. My cousin My castaway this week is the Nuclear Scientist Dr Dame Sue Ian.

The first woman to be awarded the highly prestigious President's Medal by the Royal Academy of Engineering.

She has worked her way to the heart of an industry that remains one of the most contentious

in society.

She's credited with convincing Tony Blair's government to change policy on nuclear power

and embrace its potential.

Her passion for understanding how and why the world works the way it does first began as she

tinkered for hours at her parents' kitchen table with a little chemistry set.

The flames and smells of each experiment igniting her curiosity and fueling a desire to learn that has

lasted a lifetime. It's a passion she seems determined to pass on in the work she does inspiring pupils to understand the significance and satisfaction of working in her industry. She says there was a time post-Chernobble when it

seemed better not to tell people at parties what I did, but attitudes have

changed hugely. You still have to be a bit of an evangelist, but it's a pleasure to engage with people who have open minds.

So welcome Dame Sue Ian. It's very nice to have you here.

You spent 30 years of your working life then concerned with our nuclear energy supplies.

How much do you think the public understands?

I mean, it is a pressing need now for us to solve the problems of where we get our energy supply from.

I think the public are probably more aware now than they were say 10, 15 years ago

because they've woken up to the fact that there's a link between the

price that they pay for their electricity and oil and gas prices and also are

...