It’s not often that the Atomic Show has the chance to be a source of breaking news, but this show includes a timely report from Ben Heard in Adelaide, South Australia. Just an hour before our show began, the South Australia Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission issued the tentative findings from the investigative effort begun in March 2015.

Ben wasn’t available when the show first started due to fielding inquiries from interested media outlets, but he was able to join us about 8 minutes into the program. He provided a clear synopsis of the reports findings in several key areas. After we talked about the report and the next steps, Ben had to depart to continue his work answering inquiries.

This show was also special because it included the return of Lisa Stiles, a former regular on the Atomic Show. Lisa has been out of the nuclear advocacy limelight for several years while serving a deep cover assignment for an undisclosed employer. We’re happy to be able to learn from her deep and wide experience as both a nuclear professional and as a skilled communicator about nuclear science and technology.

In addition to talking about the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission report, we talked about the following topics>

* The overblown reactions in New York to what amounts to a trivial quantity of tritium detected in on-site monitoring wells at Indian Point nuclear power station

* Save Diablo Canyon and the work of Californians for Green Nuclear Power (CGNP). (It was great to have a guest from California who could provide a local perspective.)

* Public outreach needs

* The way that the DOE FY2017 Nuclear Energy budget proves that the Department was just blowing smoke with its verbal support of advanced nuclear reactor development

The guests for this show included:

Andrew Benson, who blogs at Atoms For California and tweets from @atoms4CA

Les Corrice, who blogs at Hiroshima Syndrome and maintains the Fukushima Accident Updates

Lisa Stiles, recently returned from an undisclosed location

Ben Heard, the director of Think Climate Consulting and the publisher of DecarboniseSA