Atomic Assembly: RECA

The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) was created by the federal government to partially compensate Americans who developed certain diseases as a result of being exposed to radiation from nuclear weapons production. Advocates are working to save the program, which is expiring on June 7. Guests include Christen Commuso (Missouri Coalition for the Environment) and…

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Atomic Assembly: Savannah River Site, South Carolina

The US government poured $8 billion dollars down the drain when politics and poor planning left its efforts to dispose of Cold War-era plutonium at the Savannah River Site a failure. Now, it wants to produce plutonium pits at the site. Guests include Tom Clements (Savannah River Site Watch) and Taylor Barnes (Field Reporter for…

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Atomic Assembly: Oak Ridge, Tennessee

It was the uranium enriched at the Y-12 plant in Oak Ridge, Tennessee that was used in Little Boy, the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in August of 1945. Today, every single weapon in the US’ nuclear arsenal, all 5,000, has parts that were built or maintained at Y-12.

Guests include Tanya Kardile (Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance) and Emily Strasser (author of Half-life of a secret: Reckoning with a hidden history).

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Atomic Assembly: Amarillo, Texas

The Pantex Plant sits just 17 miles northeast of Amarillo, Texas. It’s the only remaining assembly and disassembly plant for nuclear weapons in the United States. Guests include Barbara Kent (downwinder and advocate), Kaysie Kent (downwinder and advocate), and Lucie Genay (author of Under the Cap of Invisibility: The Pantex Nuclear Weapons Plant and the…

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Atomic Assembly: Rocky Flats, Colorado

In 1989, a team of FBI agents raided and shut down the Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons Plant after nearly 3 years of investigation into its environmental and waste practices. It was the first-ever raid of one government agency by another. Featured guests include Kristen Iversen (Author of Full Body Burden: Growing Up in the Nuclear Shadow…

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Atomic Assembly: Hanford, Washington

Over 80 years ago, Hanford was miles and miles of open farmland. Now, it’s known as the most contaminated site in the Western Hemisphere. This episode features Steve Olson, author of the book Apocalypse Factory: Plutonium and the Making of the Atomic Age, and Britany Ḵee’ ya aa. Eichman-Lindley, staff attorney at Hanford Challenge.

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