"Nukes on the Moon?!" -- Beyond Nuclear on the Thom Hartmann Program

Thom HartmannBeyond Nuclear's radioactive waste specialist, Kevin Kamps, was on the Thom Hartmann Show for a full hour (from 2-3pm Eastern) on Monday, December 21st. In the following four-minute segment, Thom and Kevin discuss nukes in space, highlighting the vital work of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, as well as the decaces of investigative journalism on the subject by Beyond Nuclear board member Karl Grossman.

Here is Thom's write up:

Lunar based nuclear power is on the way, plus nuclear-powered satellites. Could Mars go the same way? And of course, the military will dominate control of nuclear use, so does that mean that NASA will become the military outlet for the US in space, on the moon and on Mars.

Here is the link to the four-minute segment.

Rep. Deb Haaland nominated for Interior Secretary

Today President-elect Joe Biden nominated New Mexico's U.S. Congresswoman Deb Haaland to serve as Secretary of the Interior. If confirmed, Ms. Haaland would be the first Native American Interior Secretary, and even the first Native American cabinet member. The Department of the Interior oversees the country’s public lands and natural resources. And, as the Washington Post reports (see Update, below): "In addition to being a steward over Indian Country, Haaland would oversee the Bureau of Indian Affairs, a division of Interior." Rep. Haaland is also one of the two first ever Native American women elected to the U.S. Congress. She has championed and campaigned for the Radiation Compensation Exposure Act and received the 2020 Nuclear Free Future Award in the Special Recognition category. She has also spoken out against the highly radioactive irradiated nuclear fuel Consolidated Interim Storage Facility targeted at southeastern New Mexico by Holtec International. Her home Pueblo, Laguna, has the misfortune of "hosting" the largest open pit uranium mine on Earth.

Update on December 24, 2020 by admin

See the Washington Post article, "In Indian Country, tears, hope, and defiance over nomination of first Native Cabinet secretary: American Indians have high hopes that Deb Haaland, Biden's pick for interior secretary can reset the troubled relationship between the federal government and Indigenous peoples. Can she deliver?"

Nuclear Free Future Awards 2020: Part I

Billion Dollar Nuclear Plant Vogtle Tab Could Be On The Line With Georgia Public Service Commission Runoff

As reported by GPB, Georgia Public Broadcasting.

See also coverage by The Intercept on this Public Service Commission run off election.

Olkiluoto and the inevitability of the next major nuclear accident

Licensing reactors to operate for 100 years? It's madness. But it's about to happen in the US, making another nuclear disaster inevitable. Unless we stop it. This week's edition of The Update looks at what might have happened in Finland with the "severe abnormal event" at Olkiluoto 2, and why a serious nuclear accident could become inevitable in the US the longer the aging, degrading, uneconomical and obsolete reactor fleet is allowed to keep operating.