Nuclear Hotseat

It’s a common talking point among those who oppose nuclear that the impact of uranium mining in particular has come down disproportionately on indigenous people around the world.  But in reality, what does that look like?  And what does it do to those who have traditionally lived close to the land and have been fighting against this environmental devastation for decades?  Our  guest today fills in the picture of her own people and lands have been experiencing.

Candyce Paul, a member of English River First Nation where she lives
on LaPlonge Reserve in Northern Saskatchewan

• Candyce Paul has lived in northern Saskatchewan for nearly four decades with her husban, well-known activist, Marius Paul.  She is a member of English River First Nation where she lives on LaPlonge Reserve, where she spent many years living and learning the traditional northern culture, which she is passing on to the next generation. 
  
  When her community became a target of the Nuclear Waste Management Organization on a proposal to store high-level nuclear waste in her family’s territory she became the Outreach Coordinator for Committee for Future Generations. This group has been educating the public about the risks of nuclear waste and uranium mining for the past 10 years.  Candyce recently accepted a place on the Board of Keepers of the Water, an Indigenous-led organization, which advocates to protect the waters of their regions.
  
  Both Candyce and her husband Marius stand to protect the land, waters, and future generations in Saskatchewan and on other First Nations/Indigenous lands from the over-ambitious resource extractive industries that are targeting their part of northern Saskatchewan, from logging to peat mining, to uranium mining. 
  
  I  spoke with Candyce Paul  on Thursday, June 16, 2022.

Is reactivating a nuclear power plant near a volcano a bad idea?  Hmmm, let me guess...

• Ukraine: Regulator Describes 'Terrorism' at Zaporozhye 
• What is Westinghouse Doing in Ukraine? by Linda Pentz Gunter
• ICAN Declaration and Action Plan on the Treaty to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons
• Small Modular Nuclear Reactors get a Reality Check about their Waste
• Can Nuclear Energy Power South Korea's Future?  (NO!)
• Nuclear Power Industry is Waging a Propaganda War
• Alex Wellerstein: Tsar Bomba - The Untold Story of the World's Biggest Nuclear Bomb
• Fukushima's Dueling Museums

https://vimeo.com/676724714?fbclid=IwAR3RQbstiY1nQiG63ic-aiFotPPKreHqoAPl67jok2nfCk5wOyUE_6M_aVY

Global fallout patterns - short, good information

Yup - it's 11 years since we started! 
Consider donating $11 (or more!) in honor of this unbelievable milestone!

Dr. Ian Fairlie and Nuclear Hotseat's Libbe Halevy, mid-interview, talking about tritium radiation lies
regarding nuclear industry plans to dump tritium-contaminated water into the Pacific Ocean and Cape Cod Bay.

• Tritium Radiation Lies and planned radioactive water releases at Fukushima in Japan and Pilgrim nuclear reactor at Cape Cod in Massachusetts:  Dr. Ian Fairlie is a London-based radiation biologist and independent consultant on radioactivity in the environment.  After receiving a degree in radiation biology from Bart’s Hospital in London and doctoral studies at Imperial College in London and  Princeton University in the US, he became concerned about the radiological hazards of nuclear fuel reprocessing.  He worked as a civil servant on the regulation of radiation risks from nuclear power stations. From 2000 to 2004, Dr. Fairlie was head of the Secretariat of the UK Government’s CERRIE Committee on internal radiation risks. Since retiring from Government service, he has been a consultant on radiation matters to the European Parliament, local and regional governments, environmental NGOs, and private individuals, with a focus on the radiation doses and risks arising from the radioactive releases at nuclear facilities.  He is an expert on tritium radiation.  We spoke on Thursday, June 16, 2022
• A Primer on Radiation and Radioactivity

The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, has published a spiffy new PLANNING GUIDANCE RESPONSE TO A NUCLEAR DETONATION - 250 pages of intentional nukespeak obtuseness.  And not once does it make the universally accepted response to a nuclear detonation: kiss your posterior goodbye! 

Why in the world would Ukraine, in the middle of a war that threatens its existing nuclear reactors, plan on building more? 

Beyond Nuclear's Linda Pentz Gunter at the Vienna Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons - June 20, 2022

• Livestream of the Vienna Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons
• TPNW Signatories Meeting Chair: reminding World of Three as Nuclear Danger
  gravest" in Decades
• Meltdown at Palisades Averted
• The Bomb Next Door
• Seismic Testing for Nuclear Disposal Risks Harming Marine Life
• French Nuclear Power Crisis Frustrates Europe's Push to Quit Russian Energy

Nuclear Madness!  Ohio House Bill 434 passed the Ohio House on March 23, 2022.  This bill authorizes the creation of a new Ohio body, called the Ohio Nuclear Development Authority, which would be given the go ahead to do research and development on new nuclear reactors, defining them as “advanced.”  This is the third General Assembly into which versions of this bill have been introduced and kept moving forward.

To fill in the picture of what's wrong with the proposed legislation and the Nuclear Development Authority it envisions, plus learn more about failed clean-up of Ohio nuclear radiation contamination sites, I spoke with two veteran opponents of Ohio nuclear:

• Terry Lodge is an environmental attorney and recipient of the 2018 Dr. Judith Johnsrud Unsung Hero Award presented by Beyond Nuclear during the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability annual awards ceremony.
• Pat Marida is chair of the Ohio Sierra Club Nuclear Issues Committee. 

We spoke on Thursday, June 3, 2022.

• Ohio House Bill 434:    A Radioactive Taxpayer Subsidy - Talking Points
• NH #529: Ohio: Radiation Releases from Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant – Dr. Michael KettererDr. Michael Ketterer

Dr. Michael Ketterer, who fills in the picture on lack of radioactive clean-up
at Piketon, Ohio’s Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant  in Nuclear Hotseat #529.

The flaw in the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and why nuclear power must also be off the international table.

Linda Pentz Gunter, mid-presentation

• Get your FREE online tickets to the ICAN Nuclear Ban Forum, being held June 18 and 19, 2022, in Vienna: https://vienna.icanw.org/ican-forum-registration?utm_campaign=guatemala_ratifies_tpnw&utm_medium=email&utm_source=ican

• In 2015, Dr. Helen Caldicott brought together world experts for two day Symposium on Possible Nuclear Extinction.  Meeting at the New York Academy of Science, experts in nuclear policy, politics, the impact of radiation on life, nuclear winter, weaponry joined forces to speak on the exact nature of the nuclear dangers we all face.  It was an unflinching look at not only how bad things have already gotten, but how much worse they could get.  I attended for Nuclear Hotseat, to not only cover what these experts were sharing, but who was attending, why each of us matters, and what we can do to turn things around before it's too late. 
  
  Having just interviewed Dr. Caldicott for Nuclear Hotseat #568 on May 11, and #569 on May 18, this seemed a good time to renew our acquaintance with this unprecedented event.  So this week, a look back at Dr. Caldicott's Symposium on Possible Nuclear Extinction.  Excerpts from talks, interviews with the presenters and audience members who were activists, volunteers, and observations on the event and its impact on all present. 
  
  Further information on the Symposium and all of Dr. Caldicott's work is available at: www.HelenCaldicott.com.
  
  If you wish to view the Symposium speakers, here are the Youtube links: 

https://youtu.be/CVud0p4aGRo

Nuclear Extermination - Day 1, morning speakers

https://youtu.be/hJuuDv6tzt8

Nuclear Extermination - Day 1 - afternoon speakers

https://youtu.be/1NNtINp9S0g

Nuclear Extermination - Day 2 speakers

Libbe HaLevy's nuclear memoir - her life growing up amid nuclear fears in the Cold War 1950's, being one mile from the nuclear accident at Three Mile Island, and becoming producer and host of Nuclear Hotseat.  Available on Amazon.

Nuclear Activism needs to find a way to put all this, and more, up on Social Media

• Nuclear Activism and Social Media Messaging:  Colleen Moore is Digital Engagement Manager for Beyond the Bomb and Global Zero.  She creates content to promote the message of eliminating nuclear weapons and has experience in campaigning for justice and peace issues, including:
  • ending U.S. support for the war in Yemen;
  • promoting human rights and justice in Indonesia and East Timor,
  • working for peace between North and South Korea, and
  • advocating for access to education for women in Pakistan.

Above all, she has a passion for using digital media to advance causes of human rights and justice. Contact Colleen Moore for info on her upcoming social media trainings or to book her for one for your group at:  [email protected]

LINGUISTIC LIE:  One little word change and POOF!  Nuclear problems with Fukushima radioactive water release into the Pacific Ocean disppears... from press releases and news articles. 

• PETITION: Tell Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm to support a just transition for reactor communities in Michigan and California.
• United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research on the relevance of gender perspectives to arms control, non-proliferation and disarmament, as well as practical ideas that can support diplomats in applying a gender lens to their work.   Free copies available HERE.

• The feds have collected more than $44 billion for a permanent nuclear waste dump — here’s why we still don’t have one