Nuclear Hotseat Hosted By Libbe Halevy

INTERVIEW: Michelle Gin, Program Coordinator for Student Physicians for Social Responsibility (SPSR) who holds an MA in Public Health, on student anti-nuke organizing around the world and what it will take to attract Millenials to the anti-nuclear movement. SOCIAL MEDIA SUPERTRICKS #3 w/Dave Parrish focuses on Facebook as more than a distraction. NUMNUTZ OF THE WEEK: A floating nuclear reactor based on the technology used for oil drilling platforms - what could go wrong? PLUS: NRC trying to convince everyone that radiation is "GOOD" for you (NOT!); President Obamas Clean Power Plan drops support for existing nuclear plants; 1", 2-ft. deep, 35-year-old hole found in NJ nuclear reactor secondary containment vessel; WIPP site "planned" re-opening in March, 2016 "indefinitely delayed" - quel surprise! (We called this date a non-starter in Nuclear Hotseat #164, August 12, 2014.) 3 top TEPCO execs to stand trial for Fukushima Daiichi disaster; and both Taiwan and Russia keep up the Food Fight over suspect saf

INTERVIEW: Leona Morgan of Dine No Nukes explains the massive Church Rock radioactive waste spill of 1979 that released more radiation than Three Mile Island, then covers current issues on Native lands and actions being taken internationally by indigenous people re: nuclear issues. Diane D'Arrigo of Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS) interprets the petitions before the NRC to change standards for radiation exposure from Linear No Threshold (all radiation exposure is dangerous) to the false science of hormesis (radiation is GOOD for you!) - a dangerous reversal in safety standards. Learn what you can do to respond to the NRC. SOCIAL MEDIA SUPERTIPS FOR ACTIVISTS with Dave Parrish covers SEO and how you can get some! PLUS: Lots more.

INTERVIEW: South African environmental activist Mariette Liefferink, CEO of the Federation for a Sustainable Environment, on the uranium/gold connection in South Africa and the radiation dangers from irresponsible mining practices. NEW FEATURE: Dave Parish of Operation: Save the Earth kicks off a new series on Social Media Supertricks for Activists. NUMNUTZ OF THE WEEK: Fukushima buckwheat near-beer brewed within shouting distance of the radioactive disaster site. You'd think they'd at least include alcohol... PLUS: A whole lot more!

INTERVIEW: Alison Katz is a sociologist and psychologist who worked inside the World Health Organization (WHO) for 18 years. Now a leader within Independent WHO, an organization dedicated to revealing the lies and coverups perpetrated by WHO, Alison dissects the history, politics and manipulations of the United Nations agency we’re supposed to be able to trust to safeguard the world’s health – especially in nuclear matters. Special focus on Chernobyl and how the WHO worked to diminish our awareness of this nuclear disaster’s true impact on the world’s health. This is a Nuclear Hotseat exclusive and an Encore Presentation. (Originally broadcast on September 17, 2013.)

Special encore presentations of interviews with Dr. Alex Rosen of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, who takes on and eviscerates the United Nations' UNSCEAR report that criminally underplays the radiation dangers from Fukushima; and epidemiologist Joseph Mangano, executive director of Radiation and Public Health Project, who explains why TEPCO's interpretation of radiation data is wrong as it tries to undermine the legitimate claims of the USS Ronald Reagan sailors, who were hit with catastrophic radiation while on an humanitarian aid issue.

INTERVIEW: Donna Gilmore of SanOnofreSafety.org gives lie to dry cask manufacturerer Holtec's presentation to Vermont Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens Advisory Panel regarding long term storage of the plutonium-contaminated nuclear waste at Vermont Yankee. NUMNUTZ OF THE WEEK: I guess according to the Pentagon, I'm a Belligerent Journalist of Unprivileged Persuasion -- who knew? PLUS: New forest fires near Chernobyl, Illinois nuke reactor almost hit by tornado; South Korea/Japan food fight continues as South Korea tells World Trade Organization it has a right to protect its citizens from the radiation dangers of Fukushima food; Pope's encyclical on climate change gives heart and voice to anti-nuke religious denominations around the world; and poll finds that when it comes to storage of nuclear waste, even Tea Party members go full NIMBY - are you surprised? Can you blame them?

INTERVIEWS: Urs Ruegg of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) in Switzerland on that country's nuclear problems and IPPNW's upcoming Nuclearization of Africa Symposium in South Africa. And Adam Weissman of Global Justice for Animals and the Environment gives us an update on the Senate's approval of Fast Track for the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) - not a good thing. NUMNUTZ: Head of France's nuclear watchdog group tells the truth about problems with EDF's new nuke in Normandy - the nerve!

Nuclear Hotseat celebrates its 4th Anniversary with a look back at where how it started and where it goes from here, with the amazing revelation that the show was heard in 58 countries in May! INTERVIEWS: Erica Gray fills us in on the proposed high burn-up fuel storage tests proposed for North Anna in Virginia... only 11 miles from the epicenter of the 2011 5.8 east coast earthquake. And Diane Turco of Cape Cod Downwinders reports directly from the four-day protest March for the Children from Cape Cod to the State House in Boston to raise awareness of the safety failings at Pilgrim Nuclear Generating Station. NUMNUTZ: Ain't no way nuclear reactors will ever be considered "aesthetically pleasing." PLUS: High alpha radiation in Los Angeles, US government calls Fukushima so fragile that at any moment it could "turn globally catastrophic"; and Canada delays its approval of $1B nuke waste dump on shores of Lake Huron until after its elections - wouldn't want to upset the results, now would we?

INTERVIEWS: Vicki Nelson, founder of the Hawaii-based nonprofit, Fukushima Friends, Inc., a program that puts Fukushima radiation refugees in people's homes for a stay of up to 3 months or longer, if the visas can be managed. She is joined by Tokiko Noguchi, a participant in the program, who came from Fukushima three months ago with her 10-year-old son, Michael. She speaks through volunteer interpreter Kea Uehara. And Laura and Gichi Inoue run Komoro Homestay, a safe retreat in southwest Japan for Fukushima mothers and small children needing relief from the radiation in their homes and communities. NUMNUTZ OF THE WEEK: Fukushima artisanal saki earns 22 Grand Prizes at annual competition. Made with loving care and locally grown rice from fields near the blazingly radioactive nuclear reactor ruins. Best drunk in great quantities by those who made it to help them forget the radiologic nightmare that surrounds them. PLUS: Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) admits record radiation spike in port water

INTERVIEWS: Don Hancock of Southwest Research and Information Center provides an update on the latest on the radiologic contamination at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in Carlsbad, NM. VOICES FROM JAPAN: Former Mayor of Futuba Idogawa, who is suing the Japanese government for damages following his exposure to radiation in the early days of the ongoing Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster; and activist Ruiko Muto heads a coalition of over 20,000 people petitioning the government for an apology and compensation for the damage done to their lives by Fukushima. NUMNUTZ OF THE WEEK: Does TEPCO really think a new recreation facility and hot meals will lift the spirits of Fukushima Daiichi workers who will soon be able to be legally exposed to 250 milliSiev

SPECIAL: Newly freed 85-year old nun, Sister Megan Rice, speaks at length about the peaceful 2012 Transform Now Plowshares protest action against the Y-12 nuclear facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, which resulted in her being charged with sabotage and sentenced to almost three years in prison. Now out of prison pending a resentencing hearing, she and co-defendants Gregory Boertje-Obed, 60, and Michael Walli, 68, speak at length with Nuclear Hotseat's Libbe HaLevy on what they did, why they did it, what they faced as a result, and what's next. It's not over yet. Three separate interviews - a full-length Nuclear Hotseat Exclusive!

INTERVIEWS: Alice Slater of Nuclear Age Peace Foundation brings us up to date on the UN's Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference; Dave Kraft of NEIS in Chicago eviscerates Entergy's attempts to strongarm a bankrupt Illinois into a $1.2 Billion bailout; and Jules Cook of UCY.TV unveils a complete database of mainstream media's TV coverage of the Fukushima Daiichi disaster since March 11, 2011. NUMNUTZ: Two for the price of one: IAEA thinks it's perfectly swell for TEPCO to solve their water storage problems by dumping radioactive water directly into the Pacific ; and TEPCO thinks it's perfectly swell to take the dust cover off Fukushima Unit 1 at the exact same time that rice INTENDED FOR SALE is being planted in the evacuation zone; and RICE INTENDED FOR SALE IS BEING GROWN IN THE EVACUATION ZONE! It's raining numnutz out there in nuke-land... PLUS: 85-year-old Sister Megan Rice, Michael Walli and Gregory Boertje-Obed released from prison! 18 more thyroid cancer cases found in Fukushima young people

INTERVIEW: Dr. Celine-Marie Pascale of American University on her not-yet-published analysis of American media's post-Fukushima coverage. Activist perspective proven through data analysis of over 2000 articles from print and online, plus fascinating observations on how the subject of "risk" got twisted to mean corporate interests and not people. NUMNUTZ OF THE WEEK: Could anything be numnutzier than Canada approving creation of a nuclear waste dump less than 3/4 of a mile from the shores of Lake Huron? PLUS: 85-year-old Sister Megan Rice's sabotage conviction overturned by court! Transformer explosion and fire at Indian Point nuclear reactor in New York, only 40 miles from Manhattan! Radon releases from uranium mine near native lands in southwest Utah! "Significant" amounts of Fukushima radiation detected in Pacific ocean off the coast of north America! Radiation from Chernobyl forest fire found in plume on US west coast! Too many exclamation marks in this write-up!

INTERVIEWS: Nuclear Hotseat exclusive interviews on the current water seepage and sinkhole at Boone Dam in Tennessee, which is upriver from seven different nuclear reactors. Does this portend the possibility of a Fukushima-style accident or is it a false alarm? Interviews w/Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League Executive Director Lou Zeller and a PR rep for the Tennessee Valley Authority, Jim Hopson. AND: Physicians for Social Responsibility is running a short film competition with real cash prizes. PSR's Christine Herrmann and Martin Fleck fill us in. NUMNUTZ: WIPP keeps whipsawing from bad to worse, with punative fines leveled by New Mexico on the EPA is turning into infrastructure development to support proposed nuke reactor waste storage in the area - oy!

This week, we commemorate the 29th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in Ukraine with a Nuclear Hotseat Special. We'll hear from Chernobyl survivor Bonnie Kouneva, a teenager in Bulgaria when the accident began, on the impact to her and her not-yet-born children; from Dr. Janette Sherman, who edited the English edition of Dr. Alexey Yablokov's groundbreaking book, Chernobyl: Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment; a brief interview w/Dr. Yablokov himself from Dr. Helen Caldicott's 2013 Symposium on the Medical and Ecological Impact of the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster; and Voices from Japan makes the Chernobyl/Fukushima connection personal with a message from Ryuichi Hirokawa, a Japanese journalist who was the first non-Soviet photo journalist allowed at Chernobyl and began working at Fukushima the day after the disaster began.

WORLD URANIUM SYMPOSIUM, Where April 14 - 25, the world perception of nuclear issues shifted and began to make the difference that will lead to our ultimate victories. More than 300 participants from five continents, 20 countries - including South Africa, Mongolia, Australia, India, Mali, Cameroon, Greenland, Germany, and Japan - and more than 50 films from around the world came together to focus international attention on uranium issues. Why uranium? Because all things nuclear start with a shovel! The World Uranium Symposium made international news by issuing a jointly created Declaration of the World Uranium Symposium 2015. Interviews with more than 20 activists, world experts, filmmakers and actors Focus on Indigenous People's rights and the need to protect their lands and health from uranium mining.Former Prime Minister of Japan Naoto Kan (r) and indigenous activist in Australia URANIUM FILM FESTIVAL- More than 50 films from around the world on every aspect of the nuclear/uranium issue. Gala Red Car

INTERVIEWS: Rebuttal to Federal Court go-ahead for uranium mining in the Grand Canyon: Alicyn Gitlin, who coordinates the Campaign to Restore and Protect the Greater Grand Canyon Ecoregion for the Sierra Club Grand Canyon Chapter; Sandy Bahr, Chapter Director for the Grand Canyon chapter of the Sierra Club; and Anne Mariah Tapp, Energy Program Director of the Grand Canyon Trust. NUMNUTZ OF THE WEEK: More Food News from Fukushima! (a new feature?) - this time... gold metal tap water from Fukushima?!? PLUS: Derelict boat from Fukushima found off Oregan coast... but it's not the first; US NRC okays High Burn-Up Fuel for Perry Nuclear Power Plant in Ohio. SEE: Donna Gilmore's assessment of HBF's dangers at: www.SanOnofreSafety.org to learn what's wrong with THAT picture; Last week's Numnutz gets even numnutzier as Milan Expo 2015 subject to corruption, scandal, police investigation, arrests and jailings; TEPCO robot in Fukushima Unit 1 burns out after moving only 10 meters - no word on what data, if any,

INTERVIEW: Dr. Ian Fairlie on his study on the impact of nuclear radiation on children living within 5 km/3 miles of a nuclear reactor. An encore interview from Nuclear Hotseat #162. NUMNUTZ OF THE WEEK: Milan Expo 2015 will be another site of Japan's attempt to convince the world that Fukushima food is really safe to eat so that by 2020, Tokyo Olympics tourists will have no qualms about chowing down and exposing themselves to internal radiation. Mmm mmm bad! PLUS: more TEPCO admissions that they haven't a clue about how to clean up the hot mess at Fukushima, but that doesn't stop PM Abe-baby's political party from pushing to restart Japan's 43 remaining nuclear reactors; Evacuees now allowed to stay overnight in Naraha Town in Fukushima Prefecture, but residents of Minami-Soma are suing the government for lifting evacuation advisories in their town, citing high radiation levels; Woods Hole announces Fukushima radiation in ocean off British Columbia; NRC calls Alert (second of four levels of warning) a

INTERVIEW: Dr. Janette Sherman of Radiation and Public Health Project on the recent study showing an increase in congenital birth defects in west coast infants in the eight months after Fukushima. PLUS: Kimberly Roberson of Fukushima Fallout Awareness Network on Bequerel Awareness Day and why anti-nuclear activists need to help stop the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP). And a special APRIL FOOLS BLOOPER REEL. NUMNUTZ OF THE WEEK: Japanese PM Shinzo Abe-baby has his own "Define what 'is' is" moment regarding his decision to lie to the International Olympic Committee about the situation at Fukushima so he could land the 2020 Olympics for Tokyo. PLUS: Update on Fukushima, Japan, and nuclear numnutzery all over the world...

The 36th Anniversary of the nuclear accident at Three Mile Island near Harrisburg, PA, is remembered in this reconstruction of the first three days in human terms – how people first learned of it, the early lies and attempts at a cover-up, how the media dug into the story instead of whitewashing it, and what even hearing the word "evacuation" did to that part of the world. Featured: nuclear engineer Arnie Gundersen of Fairewinds Energy Education; Middletown resident Mary Stamos; TMI Alert technical expert Scott Portzline; former Nuclear Regulatory Commissioner Peter Bradford; with media clips of Walter Cronkite and interviews done by reporters at the time of the accident, all interwoven with Libbe HaLevy's story of being somewhere she didn't want to be - one mile from a nuclear meltdown. NUMNUTZ OF THE WEEK: Radioactive feminine hygiene products found in shipment from Dubai to Beirut, Lebanon… but the U.S. isn't equipped to make a similar catch because we don't test imported products for radiation!