Nuclear Hotseat

Mary Olson of NIRS on what it means when nuclear reactors are in hot water – literally.  How To Be a Homebound Activist (hint: Yes You CAN – in time for the Coalition Against Nukes Congressional Briefing on Sept. 20 in DC); Hanford site leaking; NRC just might decide to maybe study health risks for...

 Interview:  Mary Olson, Director of Southeast Office of NIRS.org, on what the June 8 DC court ruling means to the battle against nuclear waste production (meaning reactors and their radioactive legacy).  This woman is a clear, concise powerhouse! News: 82-year-old “terrorist” nun breaks into Oak Ridge nuclear facility armed w/a Bible, candles and spray paint. ...

Interview w/Kevin Kamps of Beyond Nuclear on radioactive waste storage problems, options, how we got in this mess and what if anything can be done about this ever-lasting health menace. www.BeyondNuclear.org BREAKING NEWS – NRC freezes all nuclear reactor construction and operating licenses!  PLUS: San Diego’s COPS (Citizens Oversight Projects) challenges San Onofre’s failure to...

PLUS: Japanese anti-nuke demonstrators get pushy at their Parliament building; Extreme increase in mortality from heart attacks in Japan since Fukushima disaster began; Southern California Edison laying plans to restart San Onofre by November while activists prepare to launch their “Hell, no!”; US nuclear power production at 9-year low because of heat and drought; Anti-radiation...

Featured Interview:  Engineer and activist Ray Lutz “nukes” the NRC’s cover-up of SCE’s responsibility for San Onofre’s steam generator problems. PLUS: Four nuke plants trigger NRC “Unusual Events” in a single day.  With that many, is it still “unusual?”  (And still, no blackouts!); Illinois reactor in “hot water” – at 102 degrees, cooling water can’t...

Interview w/filmmaker Chris Noland (NOT Christopher Nolan from “Batman”),who recorded the first months after Fukushima as a relief worker in thefield. His film, “311 Surviving Japan” is in post-production and alreadygarnering overwhelming response in preview screenings. PLUS: 170,000 march against nuclear energy and the Oi restart in Japan; KEPCO cooked the energy books, turning off...

FEATURED: Report on Fukushima resident and activist Chieko Shiina’s heartrending presentation on current life in Japan and Fukushima, along with information on how to help her start a Children’s Clinic to address pressing health problems. PLUS: Fukushima determined by Japanese committee to be “a man-made disaster” (incompetence can do that!); TEPCO top execs resign… only...

Get the inside scoop on this September’s Coalition Against Nukes rally and actions in Washington, D.C. from Dr. Heidi Hutner and Michael Leonardi, long time anti-nuclear activists serving as coordinators for the event. Plus: Japanese scientists share earthquake data and dire predictions as KEPCO restarts the Oi reactors; Fukushima Unit 4 a mere gasket failure...

MUST LISTEN!  Slammer interview w/environmental attorney Susan Hito Shapiro on the battle to shut down Indian Point near NYC, plus some legal strategies applicable for anti-nuke activists throughout the country. Plus: 45,000 Japanese protest at PM Noda’s front door against Oi nuclear restart, which has already been plagued by 27 WARNING ALARMS GOING OFF!; TILT! ...

Dr. Bill Cardozo of CreativeElectron.com and Darin McClure of SanOnofre.com on radiation monitors, what they’ll do and won’t do, crowd-source radiation monitoring and how to hook up some monitors directly to the Internet for real-time result posting. Radiation 101 classes the last Saturday of each month, w/streaming video and online posting available at: www.CreativeElectron.com. Plus:...

A special interview on the politics of nuclear energy with Irvine City Council member Larry Agran, an outspoken anti-nuke Southern California politician.  He offers a picture of how local community activism can move up the political food chain to create the crucial changes we need to permanently get rid of nukes.  Think globally, act locally:...

Nuclear Hotseat Exclusive: Special panel discussion on The Roy Process for Neutralization and Elimination of Nuclear Waste.  Is this the missing technology for ultimately getting rid of the radioactive byproducts of the nuclear industry? Learn about the process, the doubts, the tantalizing possibilities, and what stands in the way of this potentially game-changing nuclear technology. ...

Interview with Daniel Hirsch of Committee to Bridge the Gap on the 1959 Santa Susana Field Laboratory nuclear meltdown – more radiation released than Three Mile Island! – and the current status of clean-up attempts.  PLUS: The battle over San Onofre heats up, with four times the number of damaged pipes in the steam generators...

An exclusive Nuclear Hotseat interview with Arnie Gundersen of Fairewinds.com on San Onofre, how and when the problems happened with the steam generators, and the dangers of even thinking about a restart this summer (as SCE has announced they are planning to do).  PLUS: Battle heats up over NRC’s anti-safety Svnicki going for second term...

Interview with Gene Stone of ROSE on visit by NRC Chairman Jaczko and Sen. Feinstein to San Onofre last week in the wake of burst pipes and pipe degradation in the new steam generators. ACTIVIST ALERT:  Requests for letters to the NRC and live bodies to show up for San Onofre demo on April 28....

Terrific food safety interview w/Kimberly Roberson of Fukushima Fallout Awareness Network and Mary Beth Brangan of Ecological Awareness Network.  Learn about the increasing dangers posed to our food supply by the radiation from Fukushima, as well as what you can do to boost your health and resist the effects of radiation. Plus: Radiation in Fukushima...

Download it here:http://lhalevy.audioacrobat.com/download/e0e8afa5-1b3d-95df-37be-2ffd0ba3ade2.mp3 Special report on Three Mile Island on the eve of the 33rd anniversary, including host Libbe HaLevy’s personal story of having been one mile away when it happened; Exclusive interview w/Dr. Helen Caldicott; 15 Koodankulam activists in India now 9 days into a fast to the death (if necessary) to stop two...

On the first anniversary of the Tohoku earthquake, tsunami and the start of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster: Special audio report from the March 11 San Onofre anti-nuke demo; Interviews with two survivors of Tohoku quake, tsunami and ongoing Fukushima Daiichi disaster, direct from Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture in Japan, who were speaking at the...

This from simplyinfo.com, forwarded from Dr. Helen Caldicott’s Facebook page: US Media Promotes Another Flawed “Study”, Downplays Fukushima Journalism standards hit a new low as the NYTimes, Wall Street Journal, Time Magazine’s blog and Scientific American all picked up the story without fact checking.  So much for mainstream media’s credibility on the nuclear issue.

Here’s the latest from Arnie Gunderson and Fairewinds, done in conjunction with Greenpeace. Fairewinds was retained by Greenpeace to write a chapter of their newly released report entitled “The Echo Chamber: Regulatory Capture and the Fukushima Daiichi Disaster”. Fairewinds concludes that Fukushima Daiichi was not just a nuclear accident; rather, for decades it was a...

Japanese government shown to have been in chaos after Fukushima, w/possible Tokyo evacuation; only 2 nuke reactors left online in Japan… and no rolling blackouts; stillborn calves at Fukushima-area farm; NRC cites Palisades Power Plant in Michigan for safety violations, plus Perry near Cleveland and Susquhanna near Harrisburg, PA; North Anna tritium double federal standard,...

Kick-ass interview w/Hattie Nestle, 73-year-old anti-nuke activist arrested on Feb. 13 at Vermont Yankee nuclear facility; Fukushima 2 in recriticality; NRC licenses two new nuclear reactors for Georgia; Two quakes – 6.2 and 5.5 – at Fukushima within the past 24 hours; 1/3 of kids from Fukushima who were tested have “lumps” on their thyroids...

A summary of the current status of San Onofre nuclear reactors in San Diego after last week’s leaks, the discovery of over 800 damaged pipes, and an employee falling into the radioactive refueling pool.  Featuring an interview with James Chambers, a licensed nuclear reactor operator and whistleblower from San Onofre, who offers his unique perspective...

Reporters always need sources and don’t know where to find them.  They’ll also take the easiest way out whenever possible.  News and journalism have been so degraded since I got my BA in the field that it’s sad to see such simplistic “reporting” when stories are so much richer and more complex than get represented...

An email forwarded to me from Mary Olsen of Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS.com) has been haunting me. It’s well known within the anti-nuclear movement that radiation most profoundly affects fetuses and the very young.  In explaining this phenomenon, Mary wrote, “In addition to radiation impacts on DNA (both egg and sperm), there is...

I believe that entertainment is a great way to get beyond people’s resistance to the nuclear issue and start them thinking and feeling about what needs to be done.  I don’t know if there is a more powerful commercial film for us than “The China Syndrome.”  Big names, great acting, harrowing message, funny hair and...

My tech guy just fixed a weeks-long lock-out from this site, which is why I’ve fallen behind.  I’ll catch up on the missed podcasts and blog posts as quickly as I can, but for now, here’s today’s podcast: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/nuclear-hotseat-hosted-by/id458213762 Terrific interview on the proposed California ballot initiative to shut down all in-state nuclear reactors with...

In the latest Nuclear Hotseat Podcast: Interview with Michael Keegan of Nuclear-Free Great Lakes; radiation news and health problems from Japan; Swedish nuclear plant fire; Canadian radiation higher than originally reported; Cesium in San Francisco-area milk… again; NIRS report on radiational harm worse for women than men; apple pectin good for more than jelly… radiationally...

Arnie Gunderson of Fairewinds.com can always be counted on for sober, clear, unbiased information. He’s one of the sources upon which I base much of my understanding of the issues of nuclear power. In this update, he talks about the true meaning of TEPCO’s claim for pending “cold shutdown” and the problems created by the...

Here’s the video of last Tuesday’s hearing on San Onofre with the San Clemente City Council. Our side’s turn; great presentation by Arnie Gunderson via teleconferencing, Dr. Helen Caldicott via Skype, and an especially powerful (though understated in delivery) talk by Dan Hirsch at about the 3 hour mark. Watch Democracy in action: http://www.san-clemente.org/Videos/ShowVideo.aspx?VideoID=290

My life has changed dramatically in the past 6-1/2 months.  I’ve gone from ignorant of/in denial about/blind to all issues nuclear-related into a 24/7/365 activist on the issues.  I’ve spoken in public, posted videos, addressed the NRC (in a rogue kind of way; they didn’t want participation but I participated anyway), begun producing a weekly...

A clearly animated representation of how many blasts we’ve had since the first ones in 1945.  Remember, each blast releases radiation into the atmosphere and/or the ground, where it remains until a minimum of ten half-life cycles are completed.  None of us will outlive the radiational pollution of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, let alone the domestic...

Rachel Maddow nails it about Vermont’s battle to shut down the Vermont Yankee nuclear reactor in this brief but powerful excerpt from her MSNBC program: http://www.nuclearfreeplanet.org/rachel-maddow-how-much-political-power-does-nuclear-power-wield.html  So who has the right to decide aabout ongoing exposure to the radioactive detritus of a nuclear reactor – We-the-People or corporation-as-“legal-person”?  Corporations can’t sicken and die from radiation,...

Today’s Nuclear Hotseat Podcast: North Anna’s operators caught in a lie about quake-readiness of that plant, even as they break ground for reactor #3; Fukushima radiation levels for workers more than 10 times too high; Interview with Dr. Robert Gould of Physicians for Social Responsibility on radiation dangers; Report on Vermont’s nuclear sanity – a...

On today’s Nuclear Hotseat Podcast: Interview w/Sean Bonner of Safecast on his work providing free on-the-ground radiation monitoring devices to groups in Japan; post-quake damage suspected at North Anna nuke plant in Virginia; post-Hurricane Irene “Unusual Event” at Calvert Cliffs in Maryland; Tweets and email from Japan reveal the devastating human toll of Fukushima, including...

An olde commercial from the 1970’s showed Mother Nature getting ticked off at some margarine that tasted to her like butter.  “It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature,” she warned, and at the stretch of her arms created a raging thunderstorm. Today it’s not margarine, it’s nuclear power plants that seem to be the object...

Here’s what happened on today’s Nuclear Hotseat podcast: Interview w/Kevin Kamps, Nuclear Waste Watchdog for Beyond Nuclear, on what to do with 75,000 TONS of nuclear waste and how to keep one’s balance while dealing with such intense information; Today’s 5.8 East Coast quake knocks out emergency generator at  Virginia nuke plant and causes NRC...

Any time Arnie Gunderson of Fairewinds.com posts an updated report, it’s important to pay attention.  As a former nuclear industry insider who ran a power plant, he has a clear eye on the truth of what’s happening and presents the most reliable information, directly from the source.  As I don’t yet know how to post...

Rarely have I seen anything as profoundly moving as this video, which makes the indellible case for international support in forcing the Japanese government to evacuate the children of Fukushima from the danger zone.  The picture painted, which pinpoints many of the aspects of the story we’ve been featuring on the weekly podcast, is concise,...

The great cover-up of the Rocketdyne Santa Susana Field Laboratory nuclear accident in 1959 – the worst on U.S. soil because there was no containment building.  Information only came out 20 years later when some of Dan Hirsch’s nuclear policy students at UC Santa Cruz did research and discovered the long-hidden documents that proved it. ...

Today, I watched my 10-year-old dog frolic in the yard with her favorite ball, playing like a puppy, with more energy than I’ve seen her have in years. Why is this worth a mention on an anti-nuclear website?  Because as part of my program to rid my body and hers of as many toxic materials...

Here’s the link to the most recent Nuclear Hotseat Podcast: Interview with Jane Swanson of the San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace on legal actions taken to shut down Diablo Canyon Excessive radiation found in fish caught 35 miles from Fukushima, in the thyroid glands of half of children tested, and on containers shipped from...

A new podcast interview w/Arnie Gunderson of Fairewinds Associates, one of my personal heroes for his clarity, calm and vision.  Very specific update information on Fukushima and radiation “rain out” projections for the coming year: http://solarimg.org/shows/solarimg_podcast_Arnie_Gundersen_130911.mp3a If that link doesn’t work, try this one: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=526_1313252896 VERY IMPORTANT – Near the end, Arnie drops a bombshell...

More clarity and a nuclear timeline from our friends at Fairwinds Associates. Check out this video at: http://fairewinds.com/content/dial-m-meltdown-brian-rich .

Here’s the link to this week’s Nuclear Hotseat podcast: http://lhalevy.audioacrobat.com/download/NuclearHotseat_9-08-9-11.mp3 Interview with Aileen Mioko Smith, Executive Director of Green Action – Japan, based in Kyoto, about her work with families of Fukushima on evacuation issues; Mainstream media stories on Japanese government hiding the radiation plume path after Fukushima; Activist Voices – Mary Beth Branagan from...

NOTE: This was the first posting of Nuclear Hotseat on the website, as opposed to social media and email.  In updating this website, it appears that the first four episodes of Nuclear Hotseat have somehow vanished.  When time permits, I’ll go back into the original files and add them – for historical reference, if not...