The Nuclear Ballot: Strained Relations

What's at stake in this election? With nukes on the line, experts share what’s on their minds just days before the election. How could this election reshape US nuclear policy?  Find out with insights from Molly Hurley, Allen Hester, and Esther Im as they break down the nuclear issues that could shape the future. Tune in for a wrap-up of The Nuclear Ballot season!

This election isn’t just about votes—it’s about who controls the world’s most powerful weapons. In this season of NukeTalk, we will explore The Nuclear Ballot: How the U.S. Election Shapes Nuclear Policy. We bring you insights from top nuclear weapons experts on how this election can shape nuclear weapons policy in the future as stakes rise in this election cycle.   In this episode, we’ll explore the intricate web of strategic relationships shaped by the upcoming US election, focusing on the US relationships with China, Russia, and NATO. As candidates navigate [or blatantly ignore] nuclear weapons and global security, their language may influence these relationships. In a rapidly changing geopolitical landscape, we'll explore how election outcomes could impact power dynamics, provoke reactions from adversaries, and ultimately reshape alliances.   Featured Guests: Dr. Tong Zhao, senior fellow at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Kimberly St. Julian Varnon, a doctoral candidate in Soviet history at the University of Pennsylvania, and Dr. Marion Messmer, senior research fellow in the International Security program at Chatham House.

This election isn’t just about votes—it’s about who controls the world’s most powerful weapons. In this season of NukeTalk, we will explore The Nuclear Ballot: How the U.S. Election Shapes Nuclear Policy. We bring you insights from top nuclear weapons experts on how this election can shape nuclear weapons policy in the future as stakes rise in this election cycle. In this episode, we delve into the hidden human toll of nuclear weapons in the United States. Discover how the escalating defense budget, the looming discussions on resuming nuclear tests, and the continued neglect of those impacted by the nuclear weapons complex reveal a stark and troubling reality. Join us as we uncover the forgotten victims and the ongoing impacts of America's nuclear legacy. Featured Guests: Scott Yundt, Executive Director of Tri-Valley CAREs; Dr. Jeffrey Lewis, Director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey (MIIS); and Mary Dickson, award-winning writer, downwinder, and advocate. 

There's more to this election cycle than who wins and who loses. It's also about who controls one of the world's largest nuclear arsenals. In this season of NukeTalk, we will explore The Nuclear Ballot: How the U.S. Election Shapes Nuclear Policy. We'll provide expert insights into how this election can affect nuclear weapons policy. As we explore the President's exclusive authority to launch nuclear weapons to the strategic decisions outlined in the Nuclear Posture Review, we unravel the complexities that shape national and global security. Additionally, we will examine the media's coverage of nuclear weapons during an election year.   Featured Guests: Kathleen Kingsbury, opinion editor at The New York Times, W.J. Hennigan, writer for The New York Times' "At the Brink" series, Dr. David Kearn, Associate Professor of Government and Politics at St. John's University, and Visiting Scholar at Harvard Kennedy School's Project on Managing the Atom, and Mackenzie Knight, Senior Research Associate at the Federation of American Scientists. 

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 Sofia Guerra (Friends Committee on National Legislation).

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 Inkstick Media).

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).

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 Texas Panhandle).

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 of Rocky Flats), Jon Lipsky (Former FBI Special Agent who led the Rocky Flats raid), and Dr. Deborah Segaloff (Colorado Physicians for Social Responsibility). 

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 Lindley, staff attorney at Hanford Challenge.