Nuclear Hotseat

By Libbe HaLevyNews

Nuclear Hotseat episodes

November 12, 2014 Nuclear Hotseat #177: Fukushima Update w/Arnie Gundersen
INTERVIEW: Arnie Gundersen interprets the latest developments at Fukushima Daiichi and provides a stunningly simple way to deny the nuclear industry its profits on peak energy, which has the power to effectively sink the whole technology in the US. PLUS: UK correspondent Shaun McGee reports from Ireland on manipulations by the government regarding the British Nuclear Test Veterans Case, as well as actions taken against Prof. Christopher Busby and Dr. Ian Fairleigh.
1 hr 1 min
November 12, 2014NH #177: Fukushima Update - Arnie Gundersen
Fairewinds Energy Education's Arnie Gunderson w/Nuclear Hotseat Producer/Host, Libbe HaLevy
INTERVIEW:
Arnie Gundersen of Fairewinds Energy Education (Fairewinds.com), Nuclear Hotseat's favorite nuclear engineer, gives a concise, clear interpretation of what's behind TEPCO's recent announcements regarding water radiation levels, the removal of fuel rods from the fuel pool at Unit 4, and the hole in the roof of Unit 1; manipulation of Japanese doctors to eliminate evidence of radiation-related diseases in Fukushima's survivors; and an elegantly brilliant way to deprive the nuclear industry of its peak energy profits, thus hastening its demise.
Fukushima Unit 3 Explosion, March 14, 2011
SPECIAL - Nuclear Hotseat's UK Correspondent, Shaun McGee, reports on manipulations by the government regarding the British Nuclear Test Veterans Case, as well as actions taken against well-known opponents to nuclear, Prof. Christopher Busby and Dr. Ian Fairleigh. Exclusive to Nuclear Hotseat.
NUMNUTZ OF THE WEEK:
The United States absolutely denied that there was a need for testing for radiation in food after Fukushima... except when it came to the delegates to the 2012 Republican and Democratic Conventions!
Republican Convention in Tampa, FL, 2012: Population cohort for the Next Big Nuclear Epidemiological Study!
PLUS:
NYTimes publishes nuke industry-inspired propaganda article AGAINST testing for thyroid cancer because too many cases of it have been found!
Radiation found in Pacific Ocean off the west coast of North America: Vancouver, BC; Eureka in Northern California; Orange County in Southern California;
Prof. Chris Busby hacked after supporting the military personnel in the British Nuclear Test Veterans Case.
1 hr
November 05, 2014NH #176: USS Reagan Sailors' Lawsuit v. TEPCO Clears Judicial Hurdle, Expands!
INTERVIEW:
Attorneys for the USS Reagan sailors hit by Fukushima radiation won big in court last week: Judge Janis Sammartino ruled that the $1 billion lawsuit against TEPCO for health damages and medical treatment CAN not only move forward, it adds as defendants General Electric, EBASCO, Toshiba and Hitachi - the companies that designed and built the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactors. Nuclear Hotseat talks with attorneys Paul Garner and Charles Bonner.
At USS Reagan hearing August 25, 2014: (l to r) Nuclear Hotseat's Libbe HaLevy; attorney Charles Bonner; Summer Simmons; USS Reagan sailor (retired) Steve Simmons; attorney Paul Garner

NUMNUTZ OF THE WEEK:
What does the calendar have to do with whether nuclear waste cleared from Fukushima Prefecture's schools can be disposed of as... well, nuclear waste?
Radwaste from Fukushima schools can't be disposed of as... well, radwaste!
PLUS:
Fukushima doctors threatened w/loss of right to practice if they tell patients their illnesses are in any way related to radiation;
TEPCO's obscene first-half profits don't stop the company from dunning Fukushima students who left evacuation for college;
Radioactive Tyvek protective suits equal to the contents of 70 25-meter swimming pools piling up at Fukushima:
Mountain of radioactive used Tyvek protective suits at Fukushima - all dressed down and nowhere to go!
Lawsuits! 9 enviro groups, NRDC challenge NRC's "extended waste storage rule;" 3 states (NY, VT, CT) launch legal challenge to same NRC ruling; and lawsuit filed by 3 northwest enviro groups over water pollution caused by Columbia Generating Station on Hanford site in Washington state.
40 civil society organizations from eight countries challenge conclusions of United Nation's UNSCEAR report on radiation exposure after Fukushima;
Radiation exposure linked to aggressive thyroid cancers in new international study; CLICK HERE.
1 hr
November 05, 2014 Nuclear Hotseat #176: USS Reagan Lawsuit Passes Judicial Hurdle!
INTERVIEW: Attorneys for the USS Reagan sailors, who are suing TEPCO to create a $1 Billion fund to help cover their medical costs, win big in preliminary hearing as judge decides they can not only proceed against TEPCO, but allows the addition of four corporations that designed and built Fukushima Daiichi. Hear from Charles Bonner and Paul Garner on the background of the case, the series of hearings, how they got the news -- and what this will mean to the sailors.
1 hr 1 min
October 29, 2014NH #175: SPECIAL - Trial of the 4 Grandmothers for Pilgrim Nuke Protest + Halloween (What's Scarier than Nuclear?))
SPECIAL: Full coverage of last week's trial of the Four Grandmothers, Cape Cod Downwinders who were arrested for trespass for their Mother's Day, 2014 protest at the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Hear from Downwinders co-founder Diane Turco; first-time-ever activist Mary Conathan (71); and attorney Bruce Taub. Talk about speaking Truth to Power!
Dr. Helen Caldicott (l) and Cape Cod Downwinders co-founder Diane Turco
HALLOWEEN FEATURE:
What could be scarier than nuclear? Activists from both coasts share their most frightening thoughts about the industry that brought us Fukushima, Chernobyl, Three Mile Island and a whole lot more!
NUMNUTZ OF THE WEEK:
The United States and Russia finally find something to agree upon and work together towards... more nuclear insanity.
PLUS:
Nuclear emergency at Honeywell's Illinois Uranium Processing Plant leaks uranium hexafluoride into environment.
Volcano experts warn that Mount Ioyama has started experiencing tremors... only 40 miles (65 km) from the Sendai nuclear power facility - and of course Japan wants to start restarting its nukes with Sendai.
Fukushima radiation rises to 800-900 times the previous peak, with no end in sight.
Major turbine troubles at Kudankulam keeps the brand-spanking-new nuke facility offline since September.
LINKS:
The World's Toughest Bacterium is the most radiation-resistant organism known:http://www.genomenewsnetwork.org/articles/07_02/deinococcus.shtml
Bacteria a Potential Threat to Nuclear Waste Repositories:http://actu.epfl.ch/news/bacteria-a-potential-threat-to-nuclear-waste-repos/
Thousands of Sick uclear Workers Await Compensation at Hanford (can you say, "when hell freezes over...?"):http://www.dianuke.org/thousands-of-sick-nuclear-workers-await-compensation-at-hanford/
1 hr
October 29, 2014 Nuclear Hotseat #175: SPECIAL - Pilgrim Grandmothers Trial
SPECIAL: Full coverage of the trial of the Four Grandmothers, whose
Mother's Day protest at the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station got them arrested
for attempting to plant flowers on the Entergy property. Interviews with Cape Cod Downwinders
co-founder Diane Turco; a first-time activist, 71-year-old Mary Conathan; and
attorney Bruce Taub. PLUS: Halloween is scary - and what's scarier than
nuclear? A whole bunch of activists weigh in on their worst nuclear fears
- BWAAAAHAHAHA...
1 hr
October 22, 2014NH #174: MacFarlane Bails NRC, WIPP Rad-Fan Restart, Food Safety for Japanese Imports
"Does This Soup Taste Ambivalent?" at Frieze Art Fair in London
INTERVIEWS:
At Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP Site) near Carlsbad, NM, Department of Energy restarts exhaust fan exposed to Plutonium and Americium during February 14, 2014 radiation leak; Don Hancock of Southwest Resource and Information Center provides us with an update and insights.
One From the Vault: Nuclear Hotseat #7, July 26, 2011
Jon Solomon of Eden Foods explains the quick action taken by the company to determine food safety of all products imported from Japan in the immediate aftermath of the start of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. Still a model for protection of workers and consumers that deserves to be emulated by all food providers and manufacturers doing business with Japan.
NUMNUTZ OF THE WEEK:
Nuclear tourism at the point where it all started! What's the worst that could happen...? Oh, that! Learn about guided tours from ground zero of the nuclear age, where once a year you can take the spouse and kids to see where everything changed in the flash of eternity.
PLUS:
BREAKING: Alison MacFarlane resigns as Chair of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, effective December 31, 2014. Alison leaves Wonderland; can a book be far behind?
BREAKING: She's in! She's out! She's in again - and now she stays! Dr. Helen Caldicott will testify on Wednesday, October 22, on behalf of the Four Grandmothers: Cape Cod Downwinders arrested on Mother's Day for attempting to plant flowers of protest at Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant. Who wants a transcript?
Dr. Helen Caldicott, about to testify on behalf of the Four Grandmothers for protesting at Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant on Mother's Day
Special report from London on Frieze Art Fair and the soup-from-Fukushima art installation, "Does this Soup Taste Ambivalent?"
French nuke giant Areva's CEO Luc Oursel takes leave of absence for health reasons "...in order to pursue treatment." Might the nuke-pusher have contracted cancer, the #1 side effect of nuclear radiation? Could this be karma... or irony?
New Canadian nuclear safety regs mandate stores of Potassium Iodide stockpiled, enough to treat everyone living within 50 miles of a nuclear reactor -- at the same time the country is trying to convince us that it's perfectly safe to site a nuclear waste repository less than a mile from the shore of Lake Huron. Disconnect, anyone?
San Onofre warning siren retired; don't they realize that nuclear waste is dangerous and needs a warning, too?
Sayonara, San Onofre sirens.

LINKS:
Tri-Valley Cares holding video competition for youths - 2 minutes or less about the impacts of nuclear weapons on the environment around the Livermore National (Nuclear) Laboratory. $500 first prize, Oct. 31 deadline.
Government report reveals Fukushima radioactive release much larger than that at Chernobyl, as much as four times worse.
Former NHK anchor Jun Hori and his frustration at being stopped by management from reporting honesty on Fukushima subject of extensive report on PRI's The World.
Fukushima refugee Mrs. Junko Honda, a hairdresser, shares chronicle she kept of Unusual Health Problems that happened to her family, friends and customers after the nuclear disaster began.
Britain's nuclear test veterans ARE the victims of "genetic curse," as new research reveals.
1 hr
October 22, 2014 Nuclear Hotseat #174: WIPP Fan Restart, Food Safety from 2011 Still Timely
INTERVIEWS: Don Hancock of Southwest Research and Information Center provides another sterling update on the fan restart at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) site in Carlsbad, NM; and One from the Vault, Nuclear Hotseat #7 from July 26, 2011 - interview w/Jon Solomon, VP of Purchasing for Eden Foods, on the food safety protocol the company put in place in the days immediately after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster began. NUMNUTZ OF THE WEEK: Nuclear tourism to New Mexico - take the kids! PLUS: Stunner! NRC's MacFarlane announces retirement from Commission 4 years early; Gundersen says Fukushima surrounded by gamma radiation haze as cesium and strontium 90 levels in the water continue to skyrocket - Japan radiation release now seen to be almost four times worse than Chernobyl; Dr. Caldicott now will be allowed to testify in trial of The Four Grandmothers for trespass while planting protest flowers at Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant on Mother's Day; Special report from Frieze Art Show as "Ambivalent?" soup sourced from Fukushima offered free to attendees; and Canada to offer Potassium Iodide tablets to all who live within 50 miles of a nuclear reactor in case of an emergency... but still want to convince us that a nuke waste repository within one mile of Lake Huron is safe? Does no one see the disconnect?
1 hr 1 min
October 15, 2014NH #173: USS Reagan Homeporting - Japan or USA? Masahiko Goto, Carol Jahnkow
INTERVIEWS:
Two views across the Pacific on homeporting issues for the USS Ronald Reagan, which sailed into the worst of the Fukushima Daiichi radiation plume beginning the day after the earthquake and tsunami set off the nuclear disaster. Is the ship still radioactive? What happened to the debris from the purported "clean-up?" And why would the town of Yokusuka, the proposed new location for the Reagan, put up with two floating nuclear reactors from a contaminated ship in its harbor?
Mr. Masahiko Goto, attorney for the Japanese coalition trying to block the homeporting of the Reagan in Yokusuka as of Summer, 2015, on the current battle and his planned trip to visit the Reagan lawsuit attorneys and activists in California.
Carol Jahnkow, a 30-year veteran activist on and now Director Emerita of the Peace Resource Center of San Diego, provides historic perspective and context for understanding issues with our atomic-powered fleet.
Carol Jahnkow (r) and Nuclear Hotseat Producer/Host Libbe HaLevy at San Onofre Demo, March 11, 2012

NUMNUTZ OF THE WEEK:
Japan goes full NIMBY as Prime Minister Abe-baby's government tries to get cities currently storing contaminated waste from Fukushima to hold onto it for just a wee bit more time than the originally promised three years of "interim" storage.
Doesn't look very "interim" to me...
PLUS:
Typhoon Vongfong threatens Fukushima Daiichi with record rain, storm surges and possible tornadoes, as last week's Typhoon Phanfone caused radiation surges of up to 10 times previous records.
California's "top energy cop" Michael Peevey resigns from Public Utilities Commission... but not before he still gets a chance to swing San Onofre decision in favor of a Southern California Edison bailout;
New nuke languaging "spin speak" outed by Beyond Nuclear;
and Ralph Nader taps Michael Mariotte of NIRS for a Lifetime Achievement Award. Mazel tov, Michael!
1 hr
October 15, 2014 Nuclear Hotseat #173: USS Reagan Homeporting in Japan?
INTERVIEWS: Two looks across the Pacific at the fate of the USS Ronald Reagan after being hit with the heaviest of Fukushima's radiation: Mr. Masahiko Gotu on legal actions to prevent the US and Japanese government's plans to home port the Reagan in Yokusuka; and southern California veteran activist Carol Jahnkow with the background on the history of nuclear ships in San Diego, where the Reagan is currently docked, and the dangers posed by our atomic fleet. NUMNUTZ OF THE WEEK: Did the Japanese government actually think the cities currently storing contaminated waste would be willing to extend their commitment past the originally promised three years??? PLUS: Typhoon Vongfong threatens Fukushima Daiichi with record rain, storm surges and possible tornadoes as last week's Typhoon Phanfone caused radiation surges of up to 10 times previous records; California's "top energy cop" Michael Peevey resigns from Public Utilities Commission... but not before he still gets a chance to swing San Onofre decision in favor of a Southern California Edison bailout; new languaging "spin speak" from the nuke industry outed by Beyond Nuclear; and Ralph Nader taps Michael Mariotte of NIRS for a Lifetime Achievement Award. Mazel tov, Michael!
1 hr 1 min

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The weekly international news magazine on all things nuclear, hosted by Libbe HaLevy since June 14, 2011. Listened to in over 132 countries and syndicated on Pacifica Radio.