Nuclear Hotseat

Radioactive waste dumping in the Bristol Channel off Cardiff Coast from UK nuclear reactors at Hinkley Point is being carried out by dredgers similar to this one (and leaving comparable plumes of pollution). Marine Biologist Tim Deere-Jones has shown increasing radiation exposure in Wales, UK.  

• A jaw-dropping interview with UK Marine Biologist Tim Deere-Jones on the true impact of nuclear industry dredge-and-drop of nuclear 600,000 cubic metres (approx 780,000 tons) of radioactive waste into the Bristol Channel off the coast of Wales.  He works as an independent Marine Pollution Researcher and Consultant with a client list that includes Greenpeace International, Greenpeace UK, Greenpeace Australia, Friends of the Earth, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, many citizens campaign groups, Local & Regional Authorities in UK , Ireland and across northwest coasts of Europe. He makes a point of stating he has NEVER worked for any industrial organization or national government or their agencies. We spoke on Thursday, September 9, 2021. He can be emailed at: [email protected].
  

UK Marine Biologist and Researcher Tim Deere-Jones

In advance of the COP 26 UN Climate Conference, here is material to help you get up to speed on the basic anti-nuclear arguments:

• Article by Tim Judson, head of Nuclear Energy Information Service on False Climate Change Solutions written for Hoodwinked in the Hothouse - Resist False Solutions to Climate Change.
  

Two videos to help your basic understanding of why nuclear reactors are not clean, green, or a rational part of any climate crisis strategy.

• If you want a short, to-the-point discussion of Why Nuclear Power is NOT a Climate Solution - take 10 minutes and watch this video, produced by NEIS in Chicago:

https://youtu.be/K0poNgL57kc

• Dr. Arjun Makhijani explains how the US economy can function totally on renewables without nuclear power or fossil fuels.  Originally posted in 2008!  What will it take for us to learn...?

https://youtu.be/BXqHmzYe5jw

Blast the money out of nuclear weapons - and while you're at it,
clean up the radioactive cancer-causing mess you've already created!
Picture of recent demo in Sacramento by a coalition of
environmental justice groups.  Of course, the pols did not listen.  Sigh...

• Blast the money out of nuclear weapons!  Nuclear divestment means institutional nuke investments are going down — and Susi Snyder explains how any one of us can join that movement. She is project lead for the PAX No Nukes Project and coordinator for the Don’t Bank on the Bomb research and campaign.  Susi’s an expert on nuclear weapons, with over two decades of experience working at the intersect between nuclear weapons and human rights.
  LINK to the 2020 Global Report on the Financing of Nuclear Weapons Producers HERE.
  To find out which financial institutions provide funding for nuclear weapons producers, CLICK HERE.

https://youtu.be/0t0VbcKKes0

International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons and Don't Bank on the Bomb's short video on how much the nine nuclear weapons countries spend on their arsenals... in one year!

• Melissa Bumstead of Parents Against the Santa Susana Field Lab, the group that has been fighting for a complete clean-up of the radiologically and chemically polluted site of the Rocketdyne site in Simi Valley, only 30 miles from downtown Los Angeles.  Here, she provides an UPDATE on the recent state-wide demo of environmental justice groups, including the anti-nuclear groups Tri-Valley Cares (focused on the Lawrence Livermore Lab) and Greenaction (working on Hunter’s Point San Francisco Bay ).

Activist Melissa Bumstead (in green boa), cleverly disguised as a rich lobbyist.
Picture taken at the Sacramento demonstration by Environmental Justice groups.

Activist Melissa Bumstead (in green boa), cleverly disguised as a rich lobbyist.
Picture taken at the Sacramento demonstration by Environmental Justice groups.

Radiation not killing off the animals fast enough?  Hey, let's just let the hunters at 'em at Rocky Flats National Nuclear Waste Site, uhr, Wildlife Preserve!  They're so hot, they cook themselves from the inside out!

Nuclear New Orleans: Another Fukushima?
Arnie Gundersen of Fairewinds Energy Education spells out the dangers.

Following the devastation to New Orleans by Hurricane Ida, mainstream media has failed to cover the situation at the Waterford nuclear facility only 25 miles west of the city.  The facility is shut down, without grid power, and currently cooling the reactor with emergency back-up generators.

But is this enough? Will the fuel last long enough? Does this emergency system have enough “juice” to do its job until grid power is restored? And what is the exact nature of the other problems this nuclear reactor is facing in the days, weeks, even months ahead?

We talked with three of our most reliable sources to learn the extent of what we might be facing:

• Arnie Gundersen is a nuclear engineer and expert witness who serves as the chief engineer for Fairewinds Associates, Inc, a paralegal services and expert testimony firm, as well as a member of Fairewinds Energy Education’s Board of Directors.
• Maggie Gundersen is a journalist, paralegal, and former atomic power industry spokesperson who founded Fairewinds in 2008. She is the president of Fairewinds Energy Education as well as a member of the Board of Directors.
• Nancy Foust is Communications Manager & Research Team Member SimplyInfo.org, a not-for-profit research collective that holds and manages the world’s largest public archive of data on the Fukushima disaster. She has been following Hurricane Ida’s progress and damages from the first, and here provides a clear overview of the current situation as of the time of our talk, noon Pacific time on Monday, August 30.

Nancy Foust of Simply Info

Los Alamos National Laboratory threatening to "nuke" any drones that fly into its air space.  I guess they've been following how Greenpeace used drones to prove that nuclear facilities in Europe are not secure.

• Cleaning up nuclear waste at Hanford: Secrecy, delays and budget debates
• ‘A combination of failures:’ why 3.6m pounds of nuclear waste is buried on a popular California beach (San Onofre)
• Holtec’s corporate shell game, and why it is unfit to handle nuclear waste at Indian Point

Pilgrim Nuclear, Holtec Safety Lies: Dry cask storage is not secure when anyone can walk up to them,
this close, without any restrictions.  So much for Holtec's claims about "safety." 

• Diane Turco is Director of the Cape Downwinders on Cape Cod, a group that’s been fighting against the Pilgrim nuclear power reactor for more than 40 years.  Here, two interviews:
  
  • Post-shutdown problems at Pilgrim, including site security issues and her pending trial for trespassing to demonstrate to two NPR reporters how lax security is on the site.  From NH #472, July 9, 2020.
  • New interview on recent revelations of Holtec lies to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on "safety" issues at the Pilgrim site, along with lack of upgrades in security.  We spoke on August 20, 2021.

Pilgrim Nuclear activist and Holtec's biggest Massachusetts foe,
Diane Turco of Cape Downwinders.

Water, water everywhere... and with TEPCO in charge at Fukushima, you know it's more radioactive danger to the Pacific Ocean, rebranded as... radioactive danger to the Pacific Ocean.

•  Arnie Gundersen of Fairewinds Energy Education:  An Open Letter to Bill Gates About his Wyoming Atomic Reactor from Counterpunch.org.
  
• "Full Body Burden" sneak preview -  Kristen Iversen's memoir is the source for this eagerly awaited new documentary.  Watch a sneak preview, then take part in the discussion - click on title to pre-register (required)
• August 30 Environmental Justice Groups in California to Protest State Agencies' Failure to Clean Up Contaminated Sites, including the Santa Susan Field Lab, site of nuclear meltdowns and radioactive contamination.

New Mexico Nuclear Activists Brainstorm on a panel on how to stop Los Alamos plutonium pit production and Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) expansion and extension, and
promote the United Nations Treaty to Ban Nuclear Weapons.
(Picture a still shot from Taos Environmental Film Festival sizzle reel.)

New Mexico Nuclear Activists - On August 8, as part of the commemoration of the atomic bomb being dropped by the United States on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Taos Environmental Film Festival produced an important panel discussion.  Anti-nuclear and peace activists shared their views on the problems and possible solutions for nuclear dangers at two New Mexico sites:

• the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) - which is being tasked by the government with producing 30 plutonium pits a year for mega-bombs we do not need
• and the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) - which is already storing low- and mid-level radioactive nuclear waste, but is being proposed for expansion far beyond its intended storage capacity and its use-by date of 2025.

Six activists offer strong perspectives and some practical suggestions that anyone, whether you’re fighting nukes in New Mexico or your own back yard, can use to up the amps, attract members, and put pressure on politicians to get these potential disasters under control.

The participating activists are:

• Joni Arends - She serves as the Executive Director of Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety (CCNS), which she co-founded in 1988 to address community concerns about the proposed transportation of radioactive, toxic and hazardous waste from Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL).
• Scott Kovac is Operations and Research Director of Nuclear Watch New Mexico. NWNM, along with other watchdog groups, recently filed a lawsuit against the US government over its expanded production of plutonium cores for the U.S. nuclear weapons “modernization” plans.
• Erich Kuerschner is a noted Taos Peace Activist whom writes important editorials on behalf of peace and the abolition of nuclear weapons.
• Ken Mayers founded Veterans for Peace Santa Fe in 2002. In 2012, he was named a Santa Fe Living Treasure. Since he resigned his commission as a U.S. Marine Corp Captain in 1966 he has worked as a peace activist. Ken has promoted a variety of causes, including a freeze and cutback of worldwide nuclear weapons. As a global peace promoter, Ken has been active overseas. His professional life focuses on administration, consulting, communications systems and helping large organizations function better.
• Bud Ryan (Modertor) is a Peace & Justice Activist & made an antinuclear documentary with Stuart Overbey called The Forgotten Bomb which won Best Documentary from the Irvine International Film Festival in California and is a featured film at The August Peace Pilgrimage.
• Serit Kotowski is a Taos Artist.  She is the founder of the Embudo Valley Environmental Monitoring Group, based in Dixon. EVEMG organized following the May 2000 Cerro Grande fire. EVEMG collected air samples every two weeks for years to protect the community from LANL emissions. She is well informed about emergency response at LANL, as well as using her art to express concerns about nuclear weapons.

Our thanks to the Taos Environmental Film Festival and Jean Stevens for putting the Festival and this panel together.

Audio of this panel discussion was produced by Robin Collier of Taos radio station KCEI and is provided for our use.  KCEI is a long time supporter of Nuclear Hotseat and carries the show every week.  Our gratitude for your support.

It's Evil Numnutz time when it turns out that the 20-year Afghan war was really just a full-employment business strategy for weapons-producing companies.

• KCEI website with full program.