Nuclear Hotseat

Image from Eaton Fire, Altadena/Pasadena, January 9, 2025

I live in Los Angeles in the foothills less than a mile away from what became the Eaton (Altadena/Pasadena) fire Evacuation Warning zone. 

There was no new Nuclear Hotseat last week because after the Eaton fire broke out on Tuesday, I lost power and internet for more than 32 hours - as well as being under the stress of possibly needing to evacuate at a moment's notice (and in the middle of the worst toothache of my life!). The winds were gusting up to 100 MPH, and only a few miles away from where I live, embers were being blown sideways, simultaneously setting whole neighborhoods afire. I packed my car, made arrangements with friends who had space for Munchkin and me to evacuate, and tried to stay in the moment instead of catastrophizing the worst.

Munchkin HaLevy

After a very intense several days, the danger receded, as did the border of the evacuation zone, and it seemed that I had escaped with my home and life intact. Only the shadows of PTSD - which everyone in Los Angeles is suffering from, whether they lost their homes or not - remained, motivating me to check disaster maps and evacuation updates multiple times every day and throughout the night, sleeping with my clothes on... and not unpacking the car.

Many of you reached out to me, and I'm deeply grateful for your concern and support. As you might imagine, during this time I received numerous email, texts, and Facebook questions on whether any nukes have been at risk. San Onofre is 70 miles from where I live and Diablo Canyon a good 160 miles away, so there didn't seem to be any immediate danger to them. But what are the dangers in general of fire and nukes?  What are we up against? 

To find out, I spoke with several experts to gain their insights. Our topics ranged more widely than I had anticipated, including:

• the difference between a line fire and a mass fire
• why reporters must NEVER evoke Hiroshima or Nagasaki as a comparison to the fire devastation here
• fire hazards posed by exposed spent fuel pools and fuel storage canisters
• how Southern California Edison retains a flawed power transmission tower system that may have contributed to the start of the Altadena/Pasadena Eaton fire
• radiation releases from fire in a radioactive materials dump zone such as the Santa Susana Field Lab (only 30 miles away)

...and other nuclear dangers created by wildfires at nuclear sites.

I learned more than I expected, information I'd not encountered before and that you probably haven't, either.  I will try to get this program into the hands and ears of reporters who can do a more thorough, focused job of following up.  There are important aspects to nuclear's vulnerability to fire, and given the nature of this current wildfire catastrophe - with maybe worse to come - we can't assume safety when it's clear that no one can.

In the meantime... I'm not unpacking the car. 

Greg Mello of Los Alamos Study Group and Nuclear Hotseat Producer/Host Libbe HaLevy

• Greg Mello is Executive Director of the Los Alamos Study Group, which works for nuclear disarmament, environmental protection, social justice, and economic sustainability.  He gives a thorough overview of the difference between a line fire such as we see in the Palisades and Eaton fires in Los Angeles, and a mass fire such as would result from a nuclear weapon.  A definite reproof to those reporters who, trying to donvey the devastation in Los Angeles, as looking like the aftermath of a nuclear bomb.  Not to in any way minimize how bad it is here in LA, but the analogy is not even close.  We spoke on Friday, January 11, 2025.
  
• To learn more about general nuclear reactor safety problems in the face of fire — and some specifics on how negligence by Southern California Edison may have possibly contributed if not caused the Eaton fire in Altadena/Pasadena - (DISCLAIMER: speculation only at this point, but it does involve some very new information that needs to be investigated thoroughly) - I spoke with Donna Gilmore. She is founder of San Onofre Safety, a public resource for factual information about the serious safety issues with the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station and the tons of stored nuclear waste just a few miles south of San Clemente, California. Most of the information on that site is from official government and scientific documents. I spoke with Donna Gilmore on Tuesday, January 14, 2025.

Linda asks: What if there'd be a nuclear power plant caught up in the LA fires?

It's been a year, all right, with plenty of Numnutzery to go around. We look back on 2024 through the lens of Numnutz of the Week (for Outstanding Nuclear Boneheadedness) - the nuclear stories that made no sense, defied logic, infuriated me, touched my "Despair" button, or just got me mad enough to go on a rant. 

Among the snippets from the past 52 weeks:

• Tucker Carlson blames "demons" for creating nuclear weapons.

• Scallops from Japan too radioactive to sell in that country?  Sell 'em to the U.S.A.!
• US Environmental Protection Agency promotes nuclear to school children with a comic book!
• Russian Prime Minister Putin consults with shamans about nuclear and builds plywood mock-ups of the White House and Big Ben in Siberia to use as nuclear targets.
• The many ways in which nuclear and its radioactive dangers hide in plain sight by getting its minions to simply "forget" to mention them!
• And of course, several instances of nuclear ignorance (aka "numnutzery") from members of the U.S. Congress. 

Not mentioned on the show, but definitely worth a visit:  NH #677:  OBSCENE Atomic Museum in Las Vegas Shows No Bomb Victims, No Downwinders, Just Nuclear “FUN” - More numnutzery per square inch than even I anticipated.

Banner promising all kinds of "nuclear fun" displayed outside the Atomic Museum in Las Vegas.

Linda Pentz Gunter chooses her own numnutz, and it's Elon Musk!

The other Muskrat.

Nobel Peace Prize ceremony report and interview with ICAN's Digital Campaign Coordinator Lucero Oyarzun.  She was at the events in Oslo when the prize was awarded to Nihon Hindankyo, the Japanese Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, and provides a deeply moving eyewitness report. 

Photo credit: ICAN | Darren Ornitz

The late, great, Sr. Megan Rice.

• Sr. Megan Rice was a Roman Catholic nun who was arrested more than 40 times for protesting America’s military industrial complex and nuclear weapons-. She’s best known for breaking into Y-12, one of the world’s largest and most highly guarded uranium storage sites – the “Fort Knox” of the US uranium stockpile.
  
  But on July 28, 2012, this diminutive octogenarian nun and two other senior antinuclear activists used simple bolt cutters and their beliefs to walk into Y-12 – and not be noticed for more than 30 minutes! Our extremely embarrassed government threw the book at these three activists, charging them with “sabotage” – a felony with a penalty of up to 20 years in prison. She and the others served just over two years before being released.
  
  Sr. Megan passed away on Oct 17, 2021 at the age of 91, and there is no better commemoration of her life and work than her own words, recorded for Nuclear Hotseat on May 25, 2012, just after her release from prison.

Susi Snyder, posing with the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) Nobel Peace Prize for 2017.

• Susi Snyder is Programme Coordinator at the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons. For more than a decade, Susi headed the Don’t Bank on the Bomb project, which was her position when we spoke for this interview on May 10, 2019. Her information is as relevant now as it was then. The report on nuclear bomb producing companies that she references is updated every year. The 2025 report, "At Great Cost: The Companies Building Nuclear Weapons and their Financiers" is a joint publication of ICAN and PAX.

A new book, THE SCIENTISTS WHO ALERTED US TO THE DANGERS OF RADIATION, is a devastating look into the history of radiation harms and the scientists who attempted to reveal the truth by defying political and institutional pressures. It explains how those who tried to warn us were censored and discredited by nuclear interests, leading to our current institutionalized ignorance about radiation. Authors are:

• Ian Fairlie, PhD, a UK-based scientist who has served as chief scientific advisor to the British Governnment’s Committee on the Radiation Risks of Internal Emitters, and Cindy Folkers, Radiation and Health Hazard Specialist for Beyond Nuclear.  He has degrees in chemistryand radiation biology and his doctorate at Imperial College in London was on nuclear waste policies. He was chief scientific advisor to the British Government’s Committee on the Radiation Risks of Internal Emitters and continues as a consultant to many NGOs and nuclear activists both in Europe and North America.
  
• Cindy Folkers, MS, focuses on ionizing radiation and its impact on health and the environment, from a scientific as well as a historical perspective. Her work in this area advocates for fully protecting the health of females and early life stages in the face of uncertain health outcomes. She earned an MS in Environmental Science from The Johns Hopkins University and has been published in additional books as well as The BMJ and Journal of the History of Biology.

Technical difficulties prevented Ian Fairlie from joining us from his home in London.  I spoke with Cindy Folkers on December 13, 2024.

LINK to purchase THE SCIENTISTS WHO ALERTED US TO THE DANGERS OF RADIATION:

• Ethics Press - Hardback, paperback, or ebook

A Woods Hole report contradicts "A Woods Hole report contradicts decommissioning company Holtec's claim that radioactive wastewater dumped from the closed Pilgrim reactor into Cape Cod Bay would quickly disperse.” Here’s.

Andy Borowitz at BorowitzReport.com nails the utter numnutzery of possibly having Pete Hegseth, currently the nominee for Secretary of Defense, anywhere near the nuclear arsenal. 

• Radioactive Leaks, Fires, and Contamination: DOE Report Exposes Alarming Failures at Piketon

The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Nihon Hidankyo, the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations.  Three Hibakusha (A-bomb survivors) were in Oslo, Norway to accept the award.

Three members of Nihon Hidankyo, the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, accept the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway on December 10, 2024.

Full broadcast, of 2024 ceremony (CLICK here or on screen shot above.)

The first ever Outrider Nuclear Reporting Summit drew together more than 100 reporters, editors, nuclear experts, activists and NGOs from around the country to Washington, DC for two days of meetings, presentations, networking, and general schmoozing.  Outrider supports multimedia storytelling about nuclear threats and climate change and partners with creators, thought leaders, and news organizations to explain how smart policy can sustain a safe and livable planet.

Among the people interviewed who are on the show:

• Beatrice Fihn, former Executive Director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) and currently Director, Lex International and Senior Fellow, United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research.

Former ICAN Executive Director Beatrice Fihn (r) being interviewed by philanthropy and peace expert Alex Toma (l), Executive Director at Peace and Security Funders Group.  Above them, a  slide showing some of Beatrice's latest work on the familiar images used to represent nuclear weapons in media stories.  

• Dawn Chapman, co-founder with Karen Nickle of Just Moms StL, the group fighting for clean-up of WWII Manhattan Project radioactive atomic weapons waste from their North St. Louis neighborhood and passage of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, or RECA. 

Map of radioactive fallout contamination from the US nuclear tests, created by Sébastien Philippe, Research Scholar, Program on Science and Global Security, Princeton University.  Used by Dawn Chapman and others in lobbying for passage of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA).

• Mary Dickson, Utah Downwinder, writer, playwright, and activist working for passage of RECA.

Mary Dickson and Libbe HaLevy at the Outrider Nuclear Reporting Summit

• ...and more than a dozen reporters, editors, and representatives of NGOs concerned with nuclear issues. 

Why are we protecting nukes from climate change rather than abolishing them?

Cover keystone photo credit:  Jeff Gipe.