Nuclear Hotseat

• Don Hancock is Executive Director of the Southwest Information and Research Center, a nuclear watchdog group headquartered in Albuquerque, NM.  Don, a Nuclear Hotseat regular, brings us up to date on the ongoing aftermath of the February 14, 2014 container explosion and radiation leak at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP site) in Carlsbad, NM.

Voices from Japan features two encore interviews from Nuclear Hotseat #142 - Fukushima Third Anniversary:

• Katsutaka Idogawa, the former mayor of Futaba, one of two cities that hosted the Fukushima nuclear power plant, has brought suit against the Japanese central government and TEPCO for damages to his health.  He personally led members of his village to safety immediately after the nuclear disaster began and has suffered health difficulties ever since.

Former Mayor of Futuba, Katsutaka Idogawa

• Ruiko Muto, a veteran Japanese anti-nuclear activist, leads a coalition of 20,000 in suing the government and TEPCO for an apology... and compensation.

Does TEPCO really think that a new, fun community/rec center at the wreck of Fukushima Daiichi will cheer workers... especially when they realize that their radiation exposure limits will be raised 150% as of 2016?  The company's expectation of the satisfaction and comfort of a hot meal and good conversation between workers will undoubtedly be overshadowed by the exponential increase in cancer rates.

• Kyushu Electric Power Company announced planned restart of Sendai nuke reactors, then four days later announces its delay.  Might this have anything to do with the recent 8.5 earthquake and volcanic eruption in the area?
• FOOD FIGHT CONTINUES!  Japan takes trade restrictions by South Korea against their food to the World Trade Organization, threatens to do the same to Taiwan.  All they're trying to do is protect against importation of radioactive food, dude - what's the big deal?
• Waste Control Specialists (WCS) in Andrews, Texas, wants to store all the high level nuclear waste this country can provide, despite being subject to tornadoes and  the recent biblical-intensity floods.  Even worse,  they're turning over the design and development of their site to Areva, the bankrupt French nuclear former giant, with its penchant for thin canisters for dry cask storage and wobbly financial future.
• ...and more! 

SPECIAL: Newly freed 85-year old nun, Sister Megan Rice, speaks at length about the peaceful 2012 Transform Now Plowshares protest action against the Y-12 nuclear facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, which resulted in her being charged with sabotage and sentenced to almost three years in prison. Now out of prison pending a re-sentencing hearing, she and co-defendants Gregory Boertje-Obed, 60, and Michael Walli, 68, both of whom were sentenced to over five years in prison, speak at length with Nuclear Hotseat's Libbe HaLevy on what they did, why they did it, what they faced as a result, and what's next. It's not over yet. Stunning information from three genuine heroes of our movement in three separate interviews - a full-length Nuclear Hotseat Exclusive!

LINKS to the Transform Now Plowshares statement and Indictment of Oak Ridge for War Crimes that was  drawn up by these three brave activists and read at the Y-12 site.  For more information on the work of these fine peace activists and to donate, go to:

www.transformplowshares.wordpress.com

Photo Credit:  Dan Zak, by his permission.

• Alice Slater of Nuclear Age Peace Foundation brings us up to date on the UN's Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference;
• Dave Kraft of NEIS in Chicago eviscerates Exelon's attempts to strongarm a bankrupt Illinois into a $1.6 Billion bailout;
• Jules Cook of UCY.TV unveils a new archive of mainstream media's TV coverage of the Fukushima Daiichi disaster since March 11, 2011.

• IAEA thinks it's perfectly swell for TEPCO to solve their water storage problems by dumping radioactive water directly into the Pacific ; and...
• TEPCO thinks it's perfectly swell to take the dust cover off Fukushima Unit 1 at the exact same time that RICE INTENDED FOR SALE is being planted in the evacuation zone; and RICE INTENDED FOR SALE IS BEING GROWN IN THE EVACUATION ZONE!  It's raining numnutz out there in nuke-land...

• 85-year-old Sister Megan Rice, Michael Walli and Gregory Boertje-Obed released from prison!

85-year-old Sister Megan Rice gets greeted upon her release from federal prison

• 18 more thyroid cancer cases found in Fukushima young people;
• The UK takes steps to guard nuke facilities against invasion by the terrorist hordes... of jellyfish.