Nuclear Hotseat

Chernobyl Truth, World Health Org. Lies - Alison Katz of Independent WHO
calls out the disinformation campaign by WHO to cover up
the ongoing, never-ending radiation dangers from the 1986 nuclear accident.
(Above: "Elephant's Foot" - Chernobyl's highly radioactive reactor core, or corium)

• Chernoby Truth, World Health Org. Lies Revealed – Alison Katz is a psychologist and sociologist who heads Independent WHO. The international watchdog group draws attention to the World Health Organization’s failure in its duty to protect those populations who are victims of radioactive contamination from Chernobyl and, later, Fukushima.  The group has held a vigil in front of WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, five days a week, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., since April 26, 2007 – the 21st anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.  Given the visibility and popularity of last year's HBO series on Chernobyl series – it now ranks as the most seen television program in the world, ever – it seemed the right time to reintroduce this classic Nuclear Hotseat episode to an audience that either has not yet heard it, or wishes to have their understanding of Chernobyl’s devastating impacts refreshed. Originally recorded for Nuclear Hotseat #118, September 17, 2013, the material covered has in no way gone out of date.

Scenes from Independent WHO’s ongoing Chernobyl vigil in front of 
the World Health Organization’s headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland

• Manual for Survival: A Chernobyl Guide to the Future by Kate Brown. Superb accounting of the health devastation of Chernobyl, constructed from over three years of investigation into medical archives in eastern Europe. 
• Midnight in Chernobyl by Adam Higgenbotham.  NOTE: the author does a superb job reconstructing the horrors of Chernobyl, but then goes full-on pro-nuke during the final chapter, citing statistics from only the pro-nuclear WHO, IAEA, and UNSCEAR. I recommend that you skip that chapter and read the rest of the book for its narrative of nuclear lies, miscalculations, cover-ups, and destruction of people and the environment. In particular, the description of the physical devastation of high level radiation exposure is comparable to the visuals provided in the HBO series.)

Seabrook Nuclear Concrete Containment Degradation - 40 miles from Boston
and licensed until 2050!

• Seabrook Nuclear Station watchdog Natalie Hildt Treat is Executive Director of the C-10 Foundation, which operates the only real time radiation monitoring system open to the public.  This allows it to keep a sharp and critical eye on the Seabrook Station in New Hampshire.  Seabrook, which was recently relicensed to 2050, faces an array of safety concerns related to the degraded concrete in key structures.  It is the first U.S. plant known to be suffering from alkali-silica reaction or “ASR,” but experts believe it may well appear at other reactors. This puts in question the plant’s ability to operate safely in the future, and may place the public at greater risk of radiological exposure should Seabrook experience an accident, earthquake, or other emergency event.During the interview, Natalie mentioned her work with Safecast in setting up the monitoring system.  Safecast is an international, volunteer-centered organization devoted to open citizen science for the environment.  Nuclear Hotseat interviewed Safecast founder Sean Bonner for Nuclear Hotseat #394 from February 27, 2018.
  
• Ian Zabarte is Principal Man of the Western Bands of the Shoshone Nation of Indians and a board member of the Native Community Action Council. He wrote and recorded a piece entitled “A Message from the Most Bombed Nation on Earth,” which was originally carried by Al Jazeera. I mentioned it on the show a few weeks ago, but I found it so moving, we used the audio for this week's show and here's the video:
  

Fukushima's ongoing attempts at rebranding now extend to "Luck, Laugh" rice.  Really?  Really???

• Linda Pentz Gunter article from Beyond Nuclear International, Womankind Arise.  
• Keep Space for Peace Week, Oct. 3-10, 2020

Exelon Nuclear Hostage Crisis called out by Dave Kraft of NEIS, seen here at his
command control console for slaying nuclear dragons.

• VoteClimate2020.org is a non-partisan website for vetting candidates at the federal, state and gubernatorial level for their positions on climate-related issues.  We interview the two individuals who spearheaded the work to get this site up and running:
  
  • Robert Manning is the visionary who came up with the idea.  He served twenty-eight years as a California firefighter, of which the last fifteen were as Fire Captain. He is a lifetime member of Veterans for Peace engaging in anti-war activism since the first Gulf War in 1991 and worked with Dr. Daniel Ellsberg (Pentagon Papers), and the Sonoma County Peace and Justice Center during the war in Iraq.  Since the 1960s when atmospheric nuclear weapons testing began and as an active member of The Unity Foundation for the past twelve years, Robert has assisted in creating events that promoted peace, nonviolence, and understanding of different cultures.
  • Maggie Gundersen founded Fairewinds Energy Education, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization with a mission to educate the public about nuclear power production, engineering, reliability, and safety issues.
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VoteClimate2020.org organizers Robert Manning and Maggie Gundersen
on the inevitable Zoominar being interviewed

• Exelon's Nuclear manipulations in Illinois gets called out by Dave Kraft, Executive Director of Chicago-based Nuclear Energy Information Service (NEIS).  His commentary, entitled "Exelon's Nuclear Hostage Crisis Tactics Must End," got published by the Chicago Tribune in both online and print versions.  It's been kicking up a lot of interest ever since.
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NPR's All Things Considered considered the propaganda line from Japan but didn't even pay close attention to the people they were interviewing for their report, "How 2 Towns That Host Fukushima Power Plant Recover After 2011 Nuclear Disaster."  Dudes, you didn't even put "recover" in quotes!

For the real story of what life is like on the ground in Fukushima Prefecture - and how "un-recovered" the area really is, listen to Nuclear Hotseat's two-part special from Voices from Japan producer Beverly Findlay-Kaneko and her husband, Yugi Kaneko:

• Nuclear Hotseat #439, November 20, 2019:  Is Fukushima Disappearing? Part 1 - Japan would like it to & is trying. 4-day on-the-ground journey through Fukushima Prefecture with Beverly Findlay-Kaneko reveals govt lies, cover-ups, human suffering. Part 1.
• Nuclear Hotseat #440, November 27, 2019:  Is Fukushima Disappearing?  Part 2

• Congressional Panel Examines Environmental Justice Issues in New Mexico
• U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Uses Pandemic to Push Forward Nuclear Waste Dump
• HB 6 Costs Go Well Beyond Caimed Harm to Public Trust
• For Nuclear Plants Operating on Thin Margins, Growing Climate Risks Prompt Tough Choices
• Nuclear Security Educational Webinar - Scott Portzline, Security Consultant for Three Mile Island Alert, will be presenting on the problems associated with sabotage and terrorism of U.S. nuclear power plants. We'll discuss improvements that have been made and the vulnerabilities that still exist. He'll reveal numerous examples of security breaches. The discussion will also include what you can do for nuclear security.   Sep 28, 2020 08:00 PM in Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Los Alamos Toxic Nuclear Tour - LANL is the Manhattan Project site where Little Boy,
the first atomic bomb, was designed and built.  Schematics of bomb above.

• Los Alamos Toxic Tour Smug Stupid Los Alamos – its history and current problems – is the subject of this week’s show. Joni Arends is one of the founders of Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety and a 32 year veteran of that group. She provided the guided tour of public lands around the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), one of the original Manhattan Project sites. This is where, during World War II, the United States military kicked local farmers, ranchers and a children’s school off their ancestral land in order to build the first atomic bomb in isolation and secrecy. Joni’s Toxic Tour (as it has come to be known) took us to bluffs overlooking Manhattan Project-era laboratories, nuclear weapons facilities, radioactive waste dump sites, and the Rio Grande river, which has been and continues to be impacted by the migration of LANL radioactive, hazardous and toxic contaminants through surface and ground water pathways.Additional information on the tour was provided by Leona Morgan, Diné, who helped to found the Nuclear Issues Study Group of Albuquerque, and Ian Zabarte, Head Man of the Western Shoshone Nation.

Los Alamos Toxic Tour - Souvenir tee shirts, including an infant's onesie! 

Nuclear industry players have NO incentive to act responsibly with nukes or radioactive waste when all they don when they're caught is pay a pittance of a fine, with no ongoing responsability to clean up the waste.  Case in point:  Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. 

• Back from the Brink ZoominaronOrganizing to Prevent Nuclear War in the Current Moment with Dr. Vincent Intondi, historian and author of African Americans Against the Bomb: Nuclear Weapons, Colonialism an the Black Freedom Movement.   Thursday, September 10, 2020 - 5 pm Pacific/8 pm Eastern.
• Article:  Russia's "Slow-Motion Chernobyl"
• Article:  Forest Fires are Setting Chernobyl's Radiation Free