NH #660: RECA LIVES! Dawn Chapman on DC Meetings, Hawley Support for Radiation Exposure Compensation Act

Hand-out prepared by Navajo Nation and given to members of Congress during meetings on the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA).

KEYSTONE PHOTO: The team that educated Congress for passage of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act. (l-r) Christen Commuso, Reyaun Francisco, Karen Nickel, Dawn Chapman, Rep. Tricia Byrnes, Rep Chantelle Nickson-Clark

This Week’s Featured Interview:

Dawn Chapman (center) and Sen. Josh Hawley (l, maroon tie) at the DC press conference on the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act.

• Dawn Chapman and Karen Nickel founded Just Moms STL in 2014 to raise awareness of the issues their community was facing from Manhattan Project legacy nuclear waste and other hazardous materials buried at the West Lake Landfill in North St. Louis County, Missouri. When we spoke for this interview, Dawn had just returned home after a whirlwind third trip to the capitol in six months, to educate Congressional members on the need for RECA. She had been joined in this education/lobbying trip by other victims of radiation exposure from the Manhattan Project in Navajo Nation, Arizona, New Mexico, as well as reps from the Union of Concerned Scientists.
  
  Because this opportunity presented itself when Dawn’s energy was still riding high from the experience, we decided to jump in and do the interview “on the wing.” Some wonderfully spontaneous moments occurred, along with the solid, front-line information she provided.
  
  I talked with Dawn Chapman on Monday, February 12, 2024.

Contact Information for Dawn Chapman and Just Moms StL:

• westlakemoms@gmail.com
• Just Moms StL on Facebook
• West Lake Landfill on Facebook

Nuclear Hotseat Hot Story with Linda Pentz Gunter

Megajoules and megaheadlines are all nuclear meganonsense, reports Linda Pentz Gunter on the latest so-called fusion breakthrough and other not-so-hot stories.

John LaForge with the Nukewatch Report

• John LaForge , co-director of Nukewatch, with our monthly focus on nuclear weapons and global politics, The Nukewatch Report.

Links:

• The latest edition of Citizens’ Nuclear Information Center’s newsletter Nuke Info Tokyo
• NH # 536 Interview with Caitlin Stronell, Editor of Nuke Info Tokyo, Citizens’ Nuclear Information Center
• Congress takes aim at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission: ‘It’s déjà vu all over again’ by Victor Gilinsky for The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
• An Open Letter to Bill Gates About his Wyoming Atomic Reactor by Arnie Gundersen of Fairewinds Energy Education
• Today’s AI threat: More like nuclear winter than nuclear war