NH #673: Uranium Film Festival Closes US Tour in Las Vegas, RECA DC Lobbying Update, Godzilla B-Day Marathon + the Passing of Activist Patti Ameno
This Week’s Featured Interviews:
Some weeks, it’s time to catch up with a number of stories. So here we present a series of short interviews covering a range of issues that are up for us right now.
- Informational meetings between representatives of nuclear radiation-impacted communities around the country with members of the House of Representatives about expanding and extending the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, or RECA. This program, which provides nominal payments for health care help to those whose lives and health have been negatively impacted by government-created radiation exposure, is set to expire on June 7, just only three weeks from now. The meetings with Congress were going on right as I was recording this episode.
I spoke with Dawn Chapman, co-founder of Just Moms StL, the group raising awareness of WWII Manhattan Project radioactive atomic weapons waste which was dumped into Coldwater Creek and which has contaminated water, land, homes, and children.
We spoke on Tuesday, May 14, 2024. - Ian Zabarte is Principal Man of the Western Bands of the Shoshone Nation, and organizer of the Las Vegas presentation of the International Uranium Film Festival
- Shelley Berkeley has served seven terms in Congress and is now running for Mayor of Las Vegas. She was the only Nevada-based politician who chose to attend the festival and who has closely aligned herself with issues regarding the proposed nuclear waste dump site at Yucca Mountain.
- The International Uranium Film Festival spent two months touring North America, going from Window Rock in Navajo Nation down into Texas, then up the east coast, over to Chicago, the west coast, even Vancouver, British Columbia, before ending its marathon 13-venue, 10,000 mile journey in Las Vegas. IUFF co-Founder and Director, Norbert Suchanek, gives us perspective not only on what this grueling trip was like, but the next set of plans for the IUFF… including Hollywood in November…?
International Uranium Film Festival co-Founder and Director Norbert Suchanek,
seen here hard at work from his North American Tour office.
Patricia (Patti) Ameno
It is with great sadness that we let you know that Patti Ameno, long-time activist and a supporter of Nuclear Hotseat since our earliest days, has passed away. Patti grew up in Apollo, Pennsylvania, 35 miles NE of Pittsburgh, not realizing that her childhood home was directly across the street from the Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corporation. NUMEC manufactured fuel for commercial nuclear power plants and the Navy’s nuclear submarines, leaving behind a legacy of uranium and plutonium waste that impacted the health of everyone in the area — including Patti. A trained investigator with Naval Investigative Service (NIS) and former U.S. Federal Criminal Investigator, Patty took on NUMEC, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Babcock & Wilcox and Atlantic Richfield… and won.
Patti Ameno passed on Friday, May 10, 2024. She was 71 years old and died of one of the cancers that plagued her health for so many years. The full interview with Patti Ameno from Nuclear Hotseat #239 will be aired in the coming weeks.
Activist Shoutouts:
- Godzilla vs. Music Box Film Series in Chicago, June 7-13, 2024 – co-production of the Music Box Theatre and Japanese Arts Foundation. Depaul University professor Dr. Yuki Miyamoto will be one of the speakers. Tickets available at: MusicBoxTheatre.com.
Meanwhile, enjoy their unique, brief video – the BEST PROMO VIDEO EVER!
- The original 1954 Japanese film, GODZILLA (“Gojira”), was a metaphor for the nuclear bomb. It was made at a time when direct mention of the impact of the atomic bombs on the people of Japan was still illegal. LINK to full original movie, with Japanese subtitles. (NOTE: If you see a version of the “original” GODZILLA film that has Raymond Burr in it, that’s a doctored/edited/censored version of the film. See the full original in Japanese (with subtitles) to understand the atomic bomb parallels.)
