NH #756: Holiday Special - 83-Year Old Peace Hero Nun, Sr. Megan Rice, on her Y12/US “Uranium Fort Knox" Break-in

Sister Megan Rice getting a well-earned hug upon her release from prison for her non-violent break-in to the Y12 “U.S. Uranium Fort Knox” to protest nuclear weapons. She served more than two years in prison.

This Week’s Peace Special Year-End Interviews:

Sister Megan Rice

• Sr. Megan Rice was a Roman Catholic nun who was arrested more than 40 times for protesting America’s military industrial complex and nuclear weapons -. She’s best known for breaking into Y-12, one of the world’s largest and most highly guarded uranium storage sites – the “Fort Knox” of the US uranium stockpile.
  
  But on July 28, 2012, this diminutive octogenarian nun and two other senior antinuclear activists used simple bolt cutters and their beliefs to walk into Y-12 – and not be noticed for more than 30 minutes! Our extremely embarrassed government threw the book at these three activists, charging them with “sabotage” – a felony with a penalty of up to 20 years in prison. She and the others served just over two years before being released.
  
  Sr. Megan passed away on Oct 17, 2021 at the age of 91, and there is no better commemoration of her life and work than her own words, recorded for Nuclear Hotseat on May 25, 2012, just after her release from prison (pictured above).

Susi Snyder: What You CAN Do to Help De-Fund Nuclear Weapons

Susi Snyder is Director of Programmes at the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons. Her responsibilities include facilitating the development and execution of ICAN’s key programmes, including the management of ICAN’s divestment work and engagement with the financial sector. For more than a decade, Susi headed the Don’t Bank on the Bomb project, which was her position when we spoke for this interview on May 10, 2019. Her information is as relevant now as it was then. The report on nuclear bomb producing companies that she references is updated every year. The 2025 report, “At Great Cost: The Companies Building Nuclear Weapons and their Financiers” is a joint publication of ICAN and PAX.

Susi has contributed to a number of recent books, including Forbidden (2023), A World Free from Nuclear Weapons (2020),  Sleepwalking to Armageddon: The Threat of Nuclear Annihilation