Nuclear Hotseat

New Mexico radioactive nuclear garbage dump approved by NRC behind Covid smokescreen -
Beyond Nuclear's Kevin Kamps (above) gives history, context, dangers, legal objections, and next steps.  

• New Mexico - so-called "interim" storage site for highly radioactive nuclear waste given go-ahead by Nuclear Regulatory Commission - and the fight against it continues.Kevin Kamps is the radioactive waste watchdog for Beyond Nuclear, where he specializes in high-level waste management and transportation; new and existing reactors; decommissioning; Congress watch; climate change; and federal subsidies. He’s been involved in the nuclear waste battle for decades now, as you’ll hear from the breadth, depth and specificity of his information. We spoke on Monday, April 27, 2020. 
• Bruce Gagnon is co-founder and coordinator for Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, found online at www.Space4Peace.org. On April 19, 2020, Bruce took part in the zoominar: War in Space: Weaponizing the ‘Final Frontier.’  I found what he spoke about critical to our understanding of what’s happening in these Covid times, not just on earth, but what the Pentagon and the billionaires are planned for the heavens.  This is an excerpt from his talk.  Also on the zoominar and of great value were ????. ???? ????, Chair of Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament in the UK, and ????? ??????, an Activist and Science Educator. 

War in Space: Weaponizing the ‘Final Frontier’ - full video of webinar by Space4Peace.org:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shoeFQZculM

Chernobyl Fire - representation of radioactive smoke dispersion over Europe
from the 3+ week wildfire in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone

• Kate Brown is the author of Manual for Survival: A Chernobyl Guide to the Future. She is an historian of environmental and nuclear history at MIT and the author of Plutopia, which won seven major awards. Her research has been funded by the American Academy in Berlin and by Carnegie and Guggenheim fellowships. In this season of Chernobyl commemorations, she made time in her daunting schedule to talk with us about what’s in her new book.  We spoke on Monday, April 15, 2019.
• Professor Timothy Mousseau is an evolutionary biologist and faculty member of the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of South Carolina since 1991. Beginning in 1999, Professor Mousseau and his collaborators have explored the ecological, genetic and evolutionary consequences of low-dose radiation in populations of plants, animals and people inhabiting the Chernobyl region of Ukraine and Belarus. More recently, he initiated a second research program in Fukushima, Japan.  This is an excerpt from a much longer interview from February 16, 2016, which will be shared on an upcoming Nuclear Hotseat.
  

Chernobyl Fire - Most Recent Smoke Dispersion Animation:  The red triangle represents the location of the fires, the time stated is in UTC. The discharge used was evaluated by reverse modeling (exploitation of the available measurements) over the period from April 3 to 12, 2020.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGuEvUtLiYg&feature=share&fbclid=IwAR2X2sBV0aEiUjca5sBQRfSf4ddPX3TaE8KU5WJSZ6W_Fj99QHjQJRbTXAs

This is a dispersion model of radiation from April-May, 1986.  It's included to show the initial impact of Chernobyl's radiation on the world. 

Covid19 decimating health and threatening the work force at nuclear power plants.  So of course, it's a perfect time for the NRC to consider permitting so-called "low level" radioactive waste in regular landfills.  Just because we're so distracted, they think they can get away with it...!

War in Space: Weaponizing the ‘Final Frontier’ - full video of webinar by Space4Peace.org:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shoeFQZculM

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Covid19/Nuclear impacts felt even in the wilds of the Grand Canyon as uranium mines
cry crocodile tears in an attempt to grab stimulus money.

• Covid19/Nuclear impact - bad news in even more places.  Learn about the uranium industry Covid19 money-grab from Alicyn Gitlin.   She is with the Sierra Club Grand Canyon Chapter, where she is Conservation Coordinator of the Restore & Protect the Greater Grand Canyon Campaign.  Alicyn explains the history of uranium mining contaminating the groundwater of Grand Canyon; the areas near popular trails where hikers and backpackers are warned not to collect water; the devastating impact to the Havasupai native people who have lived for millennia in the Canyou; and the pity-party uranium mining conglomerates are throwing to make themselves appear eligible for stimulus package monies.
   
• LINK to the letter Alicyn Gitlin mentions that the nuclear industry sent to the Trump administration.
   
• And here's A LINK to the letter just submitted to the government signed by 75 different groups opposing a uranium bailout. 

The lengths the nuclear industry is willing to go to convince the public that nuclear materials are really "green" and "recyclable" - look, would you want to sleep on a bed with box springs made out of salvaged nuclear reactor metal?  Didn't think so...

Covid19/Nuclear -  ICAN infographic demonstrating how this year's nuclear weapons budget could be better applied to Covid 19 supplies and personnel

• Covid19/Nuclear Connection - Alicia Sanders-Zakre is the Policy and Research Coordinator at the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN). She directs and coordinates research on the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons, and general nuclear weapons policy.  Sanders-Zakre did the research that led to creation of the infographic above, which has electrified even mainstream media outlets.  She joined us from her home in Geneva, Switzerland.
• Alice Slater serves on the Board of Directors of World BEYOND War and is the UN NGO Representative of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. She is on the Board of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, the Global Council of Abolition 2000, and the Advisory Board of Nuclear Ban-US, supporting the mission of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons which won the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize for its work in realizing the successful UN negotiations for a Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
• Susi Snyder is project lead for the PAX No Nukes Project and coordinates the Don’t Bank on the Bomb research and campaign. She’s an expert on nuclear weapons, with over two decades of experience working at the intersect between nuclear weapons and human rights.

• Story behind the info-graphics on the cost of nuclear weapons vs. healthcare costs.
• Global doctors oped on Covid 19 and uclear war
• Sign up for ICAN general emails
• Sign up for ICAN research/policy emails
• Newsweek article on ICAN calculations on nuclear spending vs COVID supplies
  

While our backs are turned because we're focusing so much on Covid19, the International Atomic Energy Agency - the nuclear industry's PR mouthpiece - tries to get its ducks in a row to release Fukushima's stored radioactive water into "the sea" - aka, the Pacific Ocean.