Vermont Yankee

Nuclear Free Future: Climate Change and the Hazards of Nuclear Waste Transport 01/21/2021

Kevin Kamps, Nuclear Waste Watchdog of Beyond Nuclear, talks with host Margaret Harrington about a more positive outlook in the future regarding the dangers of nuclear power and weapons. He urges Vermonters to continue input into the Vermont Nuclear Citizens Advisory Panel and to contact our legislators.

Nuclear Free Future: The Hazards of Transporting Vermont Yankee Nuclear Waste 06/18/2020

Guests Diane D’Arrigo of Nuclear Information and Resource Service and Kevin Kamps of Beyond Nuclear talk with host Margaret Harrington about the hazards of transporting Vermont Yankee nuclear waste by Northstar to proposed centralized interim storage sites in Texas and New Mexico. This timely information is given to the public and the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Decommissioning Community Advisory Panel (VY NDCAP) before the next public comment period.

Guests:

Diane D'Arrigo
Radioactive Waste Project Director, Nuclear Information and Resource Service
www.nirs.org

Kevin Kamps
Radioactive Waste Specialist, Beyond Nuclear
www.beyondnuclear.org

Nuclear Free Future: Beyond Nuclear During the Pandemic 05/01/2020

Kevin Kamps, nuclear waste specialist with Beyond Nuclear, talks with host Margaret Harrington about the work of his organization, Beyond Nuclear, during the COVID-19 pandemic and the current state of the nuclear industry as they continue their work during this crisis.

For more information: http://www.beyondnuclear.org

Nuclear Free Future: Nuclear Disasters - Nuclear Weapons, Power and Waste 02/08/2019

Alfred C. Meyer, of Physicians for Social Responsibility, and Kevin Kamps, Radioactive Waste Specialist of Beyond Nuclear, talk with host Margaret Harrington about the need to abolish nuclear weapons. The experts discuss the hazards of nuclear power, identifying it as counterproductive to eliminate climate change issues. They also give insight into the compounding problem of radioactive nuclear waste.

Nuclear Free Future: Vermont Yankee Entergy Sale = Consequences Part 2 12/10/2018

Kevin Kamps, Radioactive Waste Watchdog of Beyond Nuclear, talks with Nuclear Free Future host Margaret Harrington about the vulnerability of irradiated fuel stored at Vermont Yankee. All the nation’s nuclear power stations are vulnerable to terrorism, and we learn what we can do about it. He also talks about quality assurance problems with Holtec containers, the model used at Vermont Yankee.

Nuclear Free Future: Vermont Yankee Entergy Sale = Consequences 11/01/2018

Kevin Kamps of Beyond Nuclear talks with host Margaret Harrington about the consequences of the pending Vermont Yankee Entergy Nuclear Power Plant sale to Northstar. The US Regulatory Commission has approved the transfer of the license to the NY company, but the Vermont Public Utility Commission must rule on the sale before the deal can close. A Northstar accelerated decommissioning project could clean up the Vermont site in less than a decade. Kevin Kamps, the Radioactive Waste Watchdog for Beyond Nuclear, takes into account Northstar’s nuclear waste plans involving Waste Control Specialists and the insurance and financing for the job.

Nuclear Free Future: Voices From Hibakusha Atomic Bomb Victims: Why We Say With Them “Never Again” 09/06/2018

Dr. John Reuwer, with Physicians for Social Responsibility and a leader in the anti-nuclear peace movement, talks about an exciting opportunity for Vermonters to meet two of the few remaining hibukusha, the Japanese word for the survivors of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan in August of 1945. They'll visit our state from September 18-21 for a series of educational programs.

In this Nuclear Free Future conversation, Reuwer talks about why learning from these special people is so important to our survival, especially as the world faces a fork in the road leading to either a new nuclear arms race or an adoption of the Treaty to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.

Nuclear Free Future: Gender Matters in the Atomic Era 07/30/2018

Mary Olson, Director of the Southeast Office of the Nuclear Information and Resource Service, talks about the greater danger faced by women and girls exposed to ionizing nuclear radiation. This includes trans-generational DNA damage. An expert in highly radioactive spent fuel policy, she discusses the dangers of transporting nuclear waste from nuclear power reactors and nuclear weapons facilities.

Mary Olson’s research and activism is a driving force for the Treaty to Abolish Nuclear Weapons. This Nuclear Free Future conversation takes heed of this topic 73 years after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and August 9, 1945.

Nuclear Free Future: Mobile Chernobyls, Revving Their Engines?! 06/25/2018

Kevin Kamps, Radioactive Waste Watchdog with Beyond Nuclear, talks with host Margaret Harrington on Nuclear Free Future. They discuss the dire consequences of shipping Entergy Vermont Yankee nuclear waste to a proposed federal facility at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, and “interim” parking lot dumps.

Representative Peter Welch has signed HR 3053 - The Nuclear Waste Amendments Act of 2018 which provides for transporting nuclear waste from all around the United States to a federal facility by road, rail, and waterways through vulnerable communities.

They discuss U.S. Senate companion legislation and the U.S. NRC licensing proceedings regarding centralized interim storage facilities for irradiated nuclear fuel targeted at the Texas/New Mexico borderlands, which are a blatant environmental justice violation. (Large Hispanic communities are already heavily polluted by fossil fuel and nuclear activities.)

Nuclear Free Future: Picking Up the Pieces from Atoms for Peace 05/10/2018

Nuclear Free Future host Margaret Harrington talks with Maggie Gundersen, President of Fairewinds Energy Education, and Arnie Gundersen, Chief Engineer of Fairewinds, about decommissioning nuclear power plants, “just transitions” for communities losing their nukes, costs, and long-term radiation after site clean up. They discuss “Interim Waste” storage in Texas and New Mexico, transportation problems, the cleanup of bomb factories and mining sites on native land, and the reality that the cost of nukes is astronomical.

For more information, please visit: www.fairewinds.org

Featured Story

Applications Now Open for the Spring 2025 Cohort of the Neighborhood Community Media Internship Program

Town Meeting TV is excited to announce that applications are now open for the Spring 2025 cohort of the Neighborhood Community Media Internship program. Join up to 8 other youth to engage in interesting media making projects! This paid media internship opportunity is designed for youth aged 16-20 who are eager to gain professional experience in the audio-visual field and develop a deeper understanding of their local community. The group will meet under the leadership of Town Meeting TV's Travis Washington from the end of January 2025 to the beginning of June 2025, on a schedule agreed upon by the whole cohort. Click here to apply!