Nuclear Hotseat

• Kevin Kamps is the Nuclear Waste Watchdog for Beyond Nuclear.  He gives an overview of the problems created by radon and suspicions about its impact on the people of Porter Ranch.
• Cindy Folkers is Beyond Nuclear's expert on ionizing radiation and its impact on health and the environment.  She talks about the health impact of radon and its decay products, emphasizing the need for independent testing at the site.
  Links to the two articles cited by Cindy Folkers as possibly pointing to an earlier start of the Porter Ranch gas leak:
  From August, 2015
  From July, 2014
  
• Richard Mathews is a long time resident of the Porter Ranch area who is currently running for state assembly from that district. Richard lives four miles away from the gas leak; he talks about the politics behind the scenes and local activist organizing efforts.
  Petition to have the Porter Ranch gas leak declared a national emergency
  
• Terry Lodge is an Ohio trial lawyer living in Toledo who has represented many clients in civil rights, civil liberties, and environmental cases.  He talks on the science as well as legal aspects of this case.

[powerpress]

Nuclear Hotseat #237 - Byron DeLear interview transcript on West Lake Landfill and legal options.

...A Reminder to All of the San Fernando Valley from your Friendly Neighborhood Environmental Protection Agency:

• Byron DeLear lives near the West Lake Landfill in North St. Louis, Missouri, and has been involved in clean energy issues as chairman and CEO of Energy Equity Funding. He is a columnist with Examiner.com and is currently running for state representative. We spoke about latest developments on radiological nightare site - the flood, the fire - as well as the politics behind the West Lake "nuclear hot potato."

• Byron DeLear interview transcript (with thanks to David Parker for providing it)

Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) is taking recycling a wee bit too far as it proclaims plans to use radioactively contaminated soil from Fukushima in public construction projects.  Hey, those lawn and garden bags haven't been worth anything in holding the nuclear garbage...!

• More than I have time to go into right now - but in 14 minutes, you'll know more about what's happening in the nuclear part of the world than any single politician running for President (...unless Bernie's been listening to the show...).

• New scientific, peer-reviewed report on the West Lake Landfill, published in the Journal of Environmental Radiactiivity, shows hows radioactive contamination has migrated off-site. 
• Dr. Ian Fairlie on radioactive Tritium in the water -- and why it's not a good idea to try to boil it off, like TEPCO wants to do at Fukushima.
• National Geographic's (pre-Murdoch purchase) article:  As Sea Levels Rise, Are Coastal Nuclear Plants Ready?
• The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) releases new Progressive Action Guides (PAGs) on "allowable" radioactivity in your food and water... and it's hardly progressive.

To celebrate the end-of-year holidays, a reminder from May of one of 2015's successes -- the early release from prison of three brave peace activists who staged the 2012 peaceful protest against nuclear weapons at the Y-12 nuclear facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.  We'll hear from:

Sister Megan Rice, the 85-year old nun, speaks at length about the peaceful 2012 Transform Now Plowshares protest action which resulted in her being charged with sabotage and sentenced to almost three years in prison.  Recorded when she was newly out of prison pending a re-sentencing hearing.  Also interviewed are her co-defendants Gregory Boertje-Obed, 60, and Michael Walli, 68, both of whom were sentenced to over five years in prison for their non-violent protest.

(l-r) Gregory Boertje-Obed, Sister Megan Rice, Michael Walli

[powerpress]

The website for Sister Rice is:  www.transformnowplowshares.wordpress.com

Originally posted on May 26, 2015 as Nuclear Hotseat #205.

Mitsuhei Murata is a career diplomat and former Japanese Ambassador to Switzerland who has been very outspoken in his opposition to Japan's nuclear policies, especially since Fukushima began in 2011. Recently, his proposal that Japan should seek an "honorable retreat" from the 2020 Olympics because of Fukushima has been gathering international media attention. We learn about the man, how he came to his anti-nuclear position, and what led him to this very public strategy regarding Japan's intention to host the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

• Ambassador Murata's website:  http://kurionet.web.fc2.com/murata.html
• Counterpunch article by Robert Hunziker featuring Ambassador Murata's comments on the Olympics:  www.counterpunch.org/2015/12/14/fukushima-amplifies-murphys-law

Radioactive rice grown in 2013 in Minami-Soma,  declared "not guilty!" of any connection with Fukushima's leaking, radioactive triple-meltdown only 12 miles/20 km away -- this according to Japan's Nuclear Regulatory Agency (NRA) and the government discontinued the investigation.  BUT - the people, the petition, the City Assembly are pushing back against the nuclear numnutz in power.  Who wins?  Stay tuned...

• West Lake Moms under Twitter assault by waste dump owner Republic Services' paid trolls while the EPA makes excuses ("The dog ate it!") for not taking control of WWII Manhattan Project nuclear waste and Superfund site.
• DUCK! and Cover Reactor Report features reactor cost overruns at Vogtle in GA, steam leak at Peach Bottom near Three Mile Island in PA.
• Indian Point 3 driving on expired license only 35 miles from Broadway; at least 10 protesters arrested.
• Demonstrations around the world in support of banning the India-Japan Nuclear Agreement.  (For more information, go to:  Nuclear Hotseat #231 - interview with Kumar Sundaram)

...and much, much more!