Mar 27th, 2014 by progressiveradionetwork at 8:34 pm
Tonight on Political Analysis, Sandy LeonVest features Part two of her series, MEET THE BEAST. This week's show -- "The Myth of Nuclear Security."
In the wake of the March 24, 2014 Nuclear Security Summit, Sandy LeonVest is joined by *PRIZM Foundation CEO/executive director and environmental/social justice activist Chuck McCune, to talk about the myth of "nuclear security."
Chuck McCune is a licensed contractor, an architecht and a sustainability expert. As an active member of the anti-nuclear community in his hometown of Albuquerque, New Mexico, he frequently lends his expertise at nuclear hearings, reporting and testifying on various nuclear safety issues, as well as the flaws and vulnerabilities of nuclear power. Most recently, Chuck McCune testified at the WIPP (radioactive leak) hearings. Chuck McCune is also a frequent witness at NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Commission) hearings, as well as nuclear waste confidence hearings.
*WIPP is the acronym for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, the nuclear waste repository in Carlsbad, New Mexico, which made headlines on February 14, 2014, when it developed a radioactive leak. Both the cause and origin of the release remain unknown.
The show also features audio clips from the PBS documentary "Is Nuclear Energy Safe? Nuclear Energy Risks and Consequences," as well as excerpts from Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders grilling NRC commissioners at a 2011 Senate hearing on the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant.
*The PRIZM Foundation is a sustainable community-oriented nonprofit in Albuquerque, New Mexico, working on global issues regarding converging potential disasters and environmental justice.
Mar 21st, 2014 by progressiveradionetwork at 3:54 pm
Guests: Hanford Challenge's Tom Carpenter and Meredith Crafton
Tonight on Political Analysis, Sandy LeonVest hosts the first in her new series, MEET THE BEAST: URS Corporation Devours Whistleblowers
The San Francisco-based URS Corporation doesn't like whistleblowers. And the company knows how to make them suffer for their sins. URS recently fired yet another employee (Donna Busche, former Hanford Nuclear Reservation Environmental & Nuclear Safety Manager), when she went public with her doubts about Hanford's safety culture.
The San Francisco-based URS Corporation doesn't like whistleblowers. And the company knows how to make them suffer for their sins. URS recently fired yet another employee (Donna Busche, former Hanford Nuclear Reservation Environmental & Nuclear Safety Manager), when she went public with her doubts about Hanford's safety culture.
Tom Carpenter, Executive Director of Hanford Challenge and his colleague Meredith Crafton join Sandy to talk about how the nuclear industry (in this case, the URS Corporation) disposes -- and sometimes destroys the careers and livelihoods -- of whistleblowers, considered by the industry to be little more than "trouble-makers."
Tom Carpenter testified this month before a Senate Homeland Security subcommittee, along with whistleblowers Donna Busche (the recently fired Environmental & Nuclear Safety Manager for the Hanford Nuclear Reservation) and former URS Corporation nuclear engineer Walter Tamosaitis. Both employees were fired by URS Corporation after reporting nuclear safety issues at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant in Washington state.
The hearing addressed retaliation against employees who raised concerns, and the roles and responsibilities of the US Department of Energy and its contractors regarding whistleblowers.
Resources:
Listen to the Senate hearings on nuclear whistleblower retaliation at:
http://www.c-span.org/video/?318226-1/hanford-nuclear-site-safety-roundtable-hearing and/or http://www.hsgac.senate.gov/subcommittees/fco/hearings/whistleblower-retaliation-at-the-hanford-nuclear-site
Visit Hanford Challenge at:
Mar 7th, 2014 by progressiveradionetwork at 1:54 pm
March 11 marks the third anniversary of the beginning of the Fukushima nuclear disaster. As the ecological problems caused by the triple melt down there continue to grow, people's awareness of the urgency for ending nuclear power is also growing. This year many groups and individuals around the world are remembering Fukushima through a host of different actions, from visiting Japanese embassies to blockading bridges, to simply turning off their lights. This special, guest hosted, episode of Political Analysis will try to give an overview of the many Actions taking place and try to capture the mounting excitement and determination of anti-nuclear activists as they push for an end to nuclear power.