Nuclear Hotseat

Jill Murphy Long

• Jill Murphy Long writes, directs and produces films based on the ethics of Justice, Mercy and Love - the initials of her company, JML Films. She is the force behind nine completed feature film screenplays and more than forty short films that spotlight current-day environmental and societal injustices.
  
  Jill’s anti-nuclear perspective originated with her personal experience living near the 1979 meltdown at Three Mile Island, and her resulting brain tumor in 2012 and thyroid cancer in 2023. Fortunately, her health is currently good. Now, she is creating a database of content creators who oppose nuclear - writers and filmmakers - for distribution to media, podcasts, broadcasts, and the entertainment industry to promote our stories and the perspective that nuclear is definitely not clean, green and renewable energy.
  
  I spoke with Jill Murphy Long on May 16, 2025.

Nuclear product rep claims to represents a process to "kill" radiation, tries to get Nuclear Hotseat host to endorse it. This does not end well for him...

The latest on progress on the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).

International Atomic Energy Agency's head Raphael Grossi

• Central Ohio:  "CALL FOR READERS: 80 Years After: Hibakusha Call us to Remember": The Hiroshima and Nagasaki Vigil

 on the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the 50th anniversary of the Peace Resource Center at Wilmington College in Wilmington, Ohio. The PRC’s quinquennial twelve-hour Hiroshima and Nagasaki vigil, on the 80th commemoration of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, consists of the communal reading of 80 hibakusha [atomic bombing sufferer] testimonials curated from the Peace Resource Center Barbara Reynolds Memorial Archives.
  
  Seeking 80 readers to read in person on August 6, 2025 between the hours of 8:15 a.m. and 8:15 p.m. for the Hiroshima and Nagasaki Vigil. The typical time commitment for readers upon arrival to the Wilmington College campus is between 30-45 minutes. Readers are asked to rehearse their reading in advance of the vigil. (Please see detailed information by clicking this link.).
  
  For more information and to sign up, CLICK HERE.
  
• WEBINAR - June 23, 2025 10:00 AM - “Golden Dome”: A Costly, Destabilizing, and Ineffective Missile Defense System.  REGISTRATION REQUIRED. 
• Trump’s Nuclear Power Obsession by Karl Grossman and Harvey Wasserman

IAEA’s Grossi Warns of Severe Nuclear Safety Risks in Ukraine: Chernobyl Drone Attacks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jmh-bO1ny1k

Piles of bags containing radioactive topsoil scraped from all over Fukushima, still awaiting removal.

• Is it possible to live in a nuclear exclusion zone? Thomas Bass' just-published book Return to Fukushima captures the aftermath of the 2011 nuclear disaster, chronicling the resilience of people navigating life amid radioactivity. The book is based upon his visits to Fukushima in 2018 and again four and a half years later - and the difference was dramatic. 14 years after the triple nuclear meltdown began, Return to Fukushima chronicles the problems and deceptions by Japan, TEPCO, and the nuclear industry as they attempt to continue to cover up the true nature of this ongoing disaster.
  
  Thomas Bass is the author of eight books; a contributor to the New Yorker, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Smithsonian, Wired, and other publications; and Professor of English and journalism at the State University of New York in Albany.
  
  I spoke with Thomas Bass on Monday, June 2, 2025.

To purchase Return to Fukushima, go to:

• https://orbooks.com/catalog/return-to-fukushima/
• https://www.mcnallyjackson.com/book/9781682195109

Why the Golden Dome is another "insane" Trump obsession that won't work.

LINKS to Linda's other work this week:

• Donald Trump's Fool's Gold
• A Superhighway to Nuclear Hell

• International Uranium Film Festival Winners - full list
• Veterans for Peace "Splashiversary" - June 14, 2-5 pm, Humbolt Bay, CA.
• The Terrible 13: The Worst Safety and Security Violators in the US Nuclear Power Fleet by Edwin S. Lyman, Director, Nuclear Power Safety, Union of Concerned Scientists
• The NRC’s new Mission Impossible: Making Atoms Great Again
• Nuclear weapons woes: Understaffed nuke agency hit by DOGE and safety worries

Greg Mitchell (l) and Libbe HaLevy (r)

• Director Greg Mitchell is an award-winning journalist and author of a dozen books on United States politics and history of the 20th and 21st centuries, including 2020’s “The Beginning or the End: How Hollywood–and America–Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.” His previous books on the atomic bombings were “Hiroshima in America“ (with Robert Jay Lifton) and “Atomic Cover-up.” His film, ATOMIC COVER-UP, released in 2021, won multiple awards, including the Best Archival Documentary award from the International Uranium Film Festival. His latest film, THE ATOMIC BOWL: Football at Ground Zero — and Nuclear Peril Today, is about a football game played in Nagasaki in front of a bombed out middle school, where US military members tossed the pigskin only five months after the atomic bombing that killed more than 70,000 people. It’s currently being screened at the IUFF in Rio and will be released on PBS in July.
  
  I spoke with Greg Mitchell on April 18, 2025.

• Link to Greg Mitchell's award-winning film ATOMIC COVER-UP, free on PBS
• Greg Mitchell on Substack

Trump "unleashes" five nuclear executive orders that while reckless and dangerous are also total fantasy.

There's something about a train… and in the early 1980s, anti-nuclear activists from coast-to-coast turned that truth into a successful campaign that literally drove the bombs off the rails.

• Tune in for the next Scholar Series webinar:
  Cute Drawings of Terrible Things: Nuclear History through Comics
  
When: Friday, June 6th at noon PT

  Who: B. Erin Cole, historian and artist

  Where: Zoom, register here
• New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s Major Nuclear Power Push by Karl Grossman
• Nuclear War Avoided, Again. But Next Time? - By W.J. Hennigan for the NYTimes
• Protest against Chalk River (Canada) nuclear waste disposal project from Dr. Gordon Edwards - (in French, with English translation available below:

NH #726 - Gordon Edwards - Chalk River - Translation fron French ArticleDownload

One of the many sessions held at the Outrider Nuclear Reporting Summit, December

Gen. C. Robert Kehler, Ret.

Gen. C. Robert Kehler, Ret., former Commander of the U.S. Strategic Command, explains (he's retired so it's from his personal perspective) the issues of AI and nuclear weapons, and the nature of debate about it taking place inside the military.   This is Part 2 of an interview conducted at the 2024 Outrider Nuclear Reporting Summit.  Gen Kehler was interviewed in front of an audience of 130 reporters by W.J. (Bill) Hennigan, Correspondent, New York Times Opinion.  Part 1 of this interview appeared on NH #723. 

The interview took place on December 6, 2024, after Donald Trump was elected president but before he took office.

Our thanks to the Outrider Foundation for having held this event and for permission to use this recording on Nuclear Hotseat.

Mary Beth Gallagher

Want to know how to stop nukes? Follow the money – and then take it away from the nuclear industry. Mary Beth Gallagher is Director of Engagements for Domini Impact Investments, a mutual fund firm that’s women-led and, among other ethical choices, does not invest in any company that manufactures any part of nuclear weapons. After hearing her speak at the United Nations Second Meeting of States Parties on the Treaty to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons in December, 2023, I knew the conscientious listeners of Nuclear Hotseat deserved to hear what she had to say.

I spoke with Mary Beth Gallagher on January 26, 2024.

• Domini Impact Investments: https://domini.com/invest/
• Investors Open Statement to States Parties on the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW):  https://divest.icanw.org/investors_open_statement_to_states_parties_on_the_treaty_on_the_prohibition_of_nuclear_weapons_tpnw, (signed by 111 investors representing at least $1,007 billion assets under management as of 1 December 2023)
• As You Sow Weapons Free Funds: https://weaponfreefunds.org/
• US Sustainable Investment Forum (USSIF) chart of Sustainable Investment Mutual funds and ETFs:  https://charts.ussif.org/mfpc/

One portion of the clean-up site at Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant

Investigative Journalist Jason Salley

• Jason Salley is an investigative journalist known for his hard-hitting reporting on environmental contamination and government oversight. With a focus on uncovering the hidden truths of Appalachia, his work has exposed decades of radioactive pollution and corporate negligence at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Pike County, Ohio. Salley’s fearless storytelling and relentless pursuit of the facts have made him a powerful voice for the communities impacted by America’s nuclear legacy.
  I spoke with Jason Salley on May 9, 2025.
• Jason Salley LINKS:
  
  • https://linktr.ee/JasonSalley?utm_source=linktree_admin_share
  • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1EfEsDBGha/?mibextid=wwXIfr  

(l-r) Vina Colley, Gina Doyle, Jason Salley

A quote on the women in the photo, from Jason Salley: "There are two inspiring women pictured from left to right in the photo. The woman on the left is Vina Colley, who has been referred to as the Erin Brockovich of Appalachia. She was one of the original whistleblowers who brought attention to the contamination from the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant. The woman on the right is Gina Doyle, who is a lifelong resident of Piketon and the leader of the online advocacy group called “Don’t Dump On Us”. Both of these women are remarkable and have dedicated themselves to promoting justice for their community."

• Vina Colley and PRESS: https://www.facebook.com/vina.colley" class="text-nh underline hover:text-nh-dark" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> https://www.facebook.com/vina.colley
• Gina Doyle and Don't Dump on Us - https://www.facebook.com/groups/1687510908847082
• Ohio Nuclear Free Network

https://youtu.be/U21vki0arD8?si=wc4Hm1YJKUdwtWue

Youtube series on Piketon's Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, Episode 1 of 4
by The APPA Report - Appalachia's Environmental Watchdog . @TheAPPAReport

Reopen Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant? Ukraine should do renewables instead.

• CALL FOR PAPERS:  Archives as Witness: Preserving History, Memory, and Art at the Peace Resource Center at Wilmington College (September 30-October 1, 2025, Wilmington College, Wilmington, Ohio) - The Peace Resource Center at Wilmington College invites conference proposals from scholars, artists, and nuclear activists to present work inspired by archival research related to nuclear histories at their upcoming 50th Anniversary Conference.  For more information and to apply, CLICK HERE. 
• FUKUSHIMA FALLOUT AWARENESS NETWORK (FFAN)’s Mayday Campaign Needs Your Signature Now.
  The FDA continues to stonewall a 2013 Citizen Petition to lower the current allowable levels of cancer-causing cesium 134, and 137 in food. Fukushima Fallout Awareness Network, a project of the National Institute for Science, Law, and Public Policy, is asking for everyone to put HHS (which oversees FDA) on notice.
  Please sign the MoveOn petition now - CLICK HERE! The petition will be delivered along with others next week to HHS, FDA, and leaders of the Make America Healthy Again Caucus and Commission.