Nuclear Hotseat Interview with Mary and Amanda on their UNIDIR report
My Friend Libbe is a podcaster—maybe you know her show—NUCLEAR HOTSEAT.
Libbe created Nuclear Hotseat in 2011 in the wake of the nuclear reactor meltdowns in Japan earlier that year. Like any good journalist, Halevy has shown a spotlight—and invites guests who also illuminate the absurdity of the “nuclear condition” we all, unfortunately, share. A lot of what nuclear corporations do so exceeds our ability to respond rationally, that it falls into the “You can’t make this stuff up” realm—and that is where Libbe entered the scene.
There was amazing activism in California in 2011 after the Fukushima Daiichi triple meltdowns across the Pacific. Those reactors in Japan were designed right here in the USA. Our reactors were “not supposed to meltdown.” Nuclear experts opined that it was impossible for a US reactor to meltdown—even though Three Mile Island fuel was found 80% melted.
So, aside from accomplishing the impossible, the Daiichi reactor units went the extra-mile. They had the cut-rate containment models (GE Mark I) and so as they melted, they also exploded! In Units 1 and 2 these were likely hydrogen explosions—but in Unit 3 there is evidence of something more complex; maybe hydrogen and atomic criticality.
The folks in California grabbed the energy and momentum from that horrible (and, sadly possible) nuclear disaster on the other side of the great sea to shine a light on the aging and broken San Onofre—the 3-reactor unit nuclear energy site close to Los Angeles. In remarkably short-order community based and expert supported activism closed the two reactors that were still operating in 2011 (Unit 1 was closed in 1992).
I have memories of visiting San Onofre with my mother in 1968 for a self-guided tour in the visitor center than had no staff. It was very eerie and also sort of “Jetson.” Unit 1 was just coming online.
Hotseat had taken off as the reactors closed—and Libbe has not looked back. She has moved with grace, skill, and savvy as a producer to fill an enormous vacuum: since mainstream news will never cover nuclear truth, and other previous platforms in our community have been lost Nuclear Hotseat is a shining star.
So, when I promoted the new Report that I coauthored with Amanda Nichols, updating the findings about biological sex as a factor in radiation harm—confirming 19 times over, that female bodies are harmed by radiation more than male bodies, and the difference is greatest when the exposure is of young children—it was not a surprise; rather a great honor and delight that Libbe invited us on Nuclear Hotseat.
You can listen for yourselves here:
https://nuclearhotseat.com/podcast/gender-ionizing-radiation-un-report/
Also—I look forward to seeing Libbe as she covers the UN meeting in March where the 74 nations that have ratified the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons will meet. Please help support her travel!
This is her fundraising link — she serves us all!
THIS JUST IN!!! Amanda Nichols and Cindy Folkers (Beyond Nuclear) just published a devastating callout on radiation, nuclear pollution and nuclear energy in THE HILL! Dateline Feb 2, 2025—read it and share!
