Nuclear Hotseat

Interview with Daniel Hirsch of Committee to Bridge the Gap on the 1959 Santa Susana Field Laboratory nuclear meltdown - more radiation released than Three Mile Island! - and the current status of clean-up attempts.  PLUS:

• The battle over San Onofre heats up, with four times the number of damaged pipes in the steam generators announced even as SCE assumes restart in June... and NRC Chairman Jaczko smacks 'em down;
• Japan celebrates the shut-down of its last nuclear reactor;
• Physicians for  Social Responsibility press conference in NYC presents Japanese physicians and nuclear experts telling the truth about Fukushima's current impact (scary health risks and Unit 4 dangers); videos available at: www.cinemaforumfukushima.org;
• 70 Japanese civil organizations petition UN to organize a Nuclear Security Summit re: Unit 4;
• Koodankulam activists continuing massive peaceful protests, hunger strikes in India;
• Washington State finally testing seafood, clams for radioactivity;
• and Greenpeace activist bombs French nuclear reactor!  (Smoke bomb, but still, it makes the point.)

In this week's episode of Nuclear Hotseat:

• Interview w/Shaun Burnie, nuclear consultant to Friends of the Earth U.S. and Greenpeace Germany, on the current status of Fukushima and Japan as the country is about to shut down its last operating nuclear reactor on May 5;
• New Chernobyl structure started to replace sarcophagus, but radiation released by digging at 100 to 1000 times normal;
• In India, Koodankulam activists resume hunger strike against nuclear power;
• California temporarily nuke-free after jellyfish-like salps jam water intake pipes and shut down Diablo Canyon as San Onofre remains offline;
• 90% of Japanese urine samples within 200 kilometers of Fukushima contaminated w/cesium;
• Vermont Yankee protesters ages 60-92 breach reactor site security before arrest... and subsequent release;
• NIRS continues the growing protest against NRC's Svnicki's attempt to re-up for another 5 years as Commissioner.  Keep the momentum going; sign the protest letter here:  http://www.nirs.org/reactorwatch/licensing/svinickiboxerletter42712.pdf
• Beyond Nuclear spearheads protest of Washington Post pro-nuke editorial that labels Fukushima "non-catastrophic." Full info at: http://www.beyondnuclear.org/.  Scroll down to the article, "Were You Outraged?"
• Arnie Gundersen of Fairewinds.com tells us exactly how to shut down the entire U.S. nuclear industry (hint: it's a "capital" idea)!  Watch the video:

An exclusive Nuclear Hotseat interview with Arnie Gundersen of Fairewinds.com on San Onofre, how and when the problems happened with the steam generators, and the dangers of even thinking about a restart this summer (as SCE has announced they are planning to do).  PLUS:

• Battle heats up over NRC's anti-safety Svnicki going for second term as Commissioner;
• EPA's Radnet "potentially impaired" during the worst of Fukushima and not in great shape if/when a nuclear accident happens in the US;
• TEPCO to dump groundwater into the ocean at a rate of 1,000 tons a day - the equivalent of 240,000 gallons;
• Fukushima women organize to share reliable information about radiation;
• Rumors spread of dead fetuses in utero and birth defects possibly traceble to Fukushima radiation;
• Big demos coming at GE shareholders meeting on April 24 and at San Onofre this Sunday, April 29;
• Poetry helps Japanese people heal via iPhone/iPad app;
• Radiation safety for your car;
• And when 92-year old Frances Crowe, arrested for protesting Vermont Yankee, was asked what her plea was to the charge, she answered, "I plead for the future of life and all living things in New England."  Amen, Sister!

Arnie Gundersen asked for us to make our nuclear wishes known to our Senators and the President.  Here's how you can do it:

SENATORS: 

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

PRESIDENT OBAMA: 

http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact