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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.

The holiday season here! So is Human Rights Day. Listen to this special holiday episode about the intersections between justice, human rights, and nuclear weapons.

Guests include Mary Dickson (Downwinder and Activist) and Lilly Adams (Union of Concerned Scientists).

We're not quite done with Oppenheimer yet! In this bonus episode, Ploughshares Fund President Dr. Emma Belcher sits down with Charles Oppenheimer, grandson of J. Robert Oppenheimer.

The two discuss how growing up in New Mexico, the site of the Trinity Test, and being an Oppenheimer shaped his views on nuclear weapons. They also discussed how the film helped organize and raise awareness of those working on nuclear elimination, as well as bringing nuclear issues back into the public eye.

In the years between Oppenheimer the man and Oppenheimer the movie, nuclear weapons have carved out a lasting place for themselves in popular culture. These depictions are not just plot points—they’re opportunities to educate and call for action. 

Guests include Alex Wellerstein (Nuclear Weapons Historian and Professor at the Stevens Institute of Technology) and John Pope (Chief Audience Officer of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists).

It was only three days after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima that another atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. In the years since, those impacted have been able to transform grief into a lasting legacy through their stories and art.
 
Guests include Dr. Masao Tomonaga (Nagasaki Hibakusha and former Director of the Japanese Red Cross Nagasaki Atomic Hospital) and Ravi Garla (Strategic Communications Consultant at the Nuclear Threat Initiative.

The Bomb. The Aftermath. The Cover-up. And everything after.

Guests include Dr. Yuki Miyamoto (DePaul University and second generation Hiroshima Hibakusha) and Lesley M.M. Blume (journalist, historian, and author of Fallout: The Hiroshima Cover-up and the Reporter Who Revealed it to the World).

The US dropped the first atomic bomb on itself. And then they called it the Trinity Test. 

Guests include Tina Cordova (Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium), Mary Martinez White (Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium), and Dr. Joseph Shonka (Senior health physicist and nuclear engineer).

Does Oppenheimer have a post-credit scene? Yes, and you’re living it.

Hosts Angela Kellett and Jacqueline Hsing review Christopher Nolan’s film Oppenheimer and discuss what’s fact, what’s fiction, and what’s missing from the narrative.

Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer is officially out, so it’s time to travel back to 1945 and examine who was left behind in the pursuit of a false sense of security. This story starts with one man: J. Robert Oppenheimer. But the people affected total in the millions. And the fallout of that decision continues to this day. 
 
Ploughshares Fund’s podcast is back for its second season titled “The Shadow of Oppenheimer.” Hosts Angela Kellett and Jacqueline Hsing are joined by nuclear policy experts in the field this week to give an understanding of what you need to know ahead of (or after) watching the film Oppenheimer. These nuclear policy experts explore how modern nuclear weapons have increased in capacity and destruction compared to their predecessors, the amount of money going into the US nuclear stockpile compared to compensation programs for radiation-exposed people, and how the nuclear field is mobilizing in response to Nolan’s Oppenheimer.
 
Guests include Matt Korda (Federation of American Scientists), Allen Hester (Friends Committee on National Legislation), Istra Fuhrmann (Peace and Security Funders Group), and Dr. Emma Belcher (Ploughshares Fund).

This week, Tina Cordova, co-founder of the Tularosa Basin Downwinder Consortium and sixth-generation native New Mexican, has the microphone in the final episode of this season.

In this conversation with Ploughshares Fund President Emma Belcher, Tina Cordova discusses the financial damage that goes hand-in-hand with the physical and emotional toll that impacted communities experience, how these are passed down through generations of families, and how the effects of the Trinity Test — the first ever nuclear weapons test — is still felt today by those in New Mexico.

And please stay tuned for season 2 of Press the Button: "The Shadow of Oppenheimer."

Continue hearing the story of Hanford and Fukushima Daiichi downwinders with Trisha Thompson Pritikin and Dr. Yuki Miyamoto.

In part two of this conversation, they discuss the generational health effects passed down from radiation exposure and the litigation process the Fukushima Daiichi downwinders are currently undergoing.

This week, Trisha Thompson Pritikin and Dr. Yuki Miyamoto have the microphone.

In part one of this conversation, they discuss the parallels between the Hanford and the Fukushima Daiichi downwinders, and how radioactive iodine can impact the body.

Trisha Thompson Pritikin is a Hanford Downwinder and author of the book The Hanford Plaintiffs. Dr. Yuki Miyamoto is a second generation Hiroshima Hibakusha and an associate professor at DePaul University, where she uses comparative ethical framework to examine nuclear discourse. 

This week, Jasmine Owens from the Physicians for Social Responsibility has the microphone.

In past episodes, we’ve discussed how nuclear frontline communities are often indigenous or comprised mainly of people of color. Jasmine Owens goes beyond these conversations to answer the overarching question: how can the anti-nuclear community become more equitable?

This week, Mari Faines from Global Zero and Haleema Saadia, Lecturer at the National University of Modern Languages (NUML), have the microphone.

It’s not often discussed how racism intersects with our security priorities and how more often than not they are set at the expense of people of color. And when it is, the focus gets stuck on individuals rather than the underlying systemic inequalities that give power and privilege to certain voices.

In this conversation, Mari Faines and Haleema Saadia discuss how racism manifests in nuclear weapons policy, and how we can address head on the institutional issues that plague nuclear weapons policy and the entire security structure. 

This episode, Lilly Adams, senior outreach coordinator at the Union of Concerned Scientists and co-founder of Nuclear Voices has the microphone.

Lilly Adams is one of the many advocates who are bringing voices impacted by nuclear weapons to light and pushing for legislation to address these issues. In past episodes, we’ve talked about compensation for nuclear harm that are set to be expired if action isn’t taken — Lilly Adams pinpoints what exact obstacles are in the way and how we can better engage impacted communities in a more meaningful and genuine manner.

This week, Benetick Kabua Maddison, Executive Director of Marshallese Educational Initiative, has the microphone.

More than 15,000 Marshallese live in northwest Arkansas — the largest community of Marshallese people outside the Marshall Islands. Benetick Kabua Maddison discusses how the United States’ nuclear testing program in the Pacific resulted in this mass migration and why the Compact of Free Association (COFA), the agreement between the US and Marshall Islands designed in part to mitigate damages from nuclear testing, must be re-negotiated so the Marshallese people can receive justice and the resources they were promised.

On this week’s episode, Mary Dickson, a radiation-exposed person harmed by nuclear testing, has the microphone.

She discusses the lack of visibility that many downwinders face, the physical and mental toll caused by having to continuously advocate for oneself and others, and why the fight for justice is nowhere near over.

This week, the microphone is passed to Selina Leem, climate change activist and Marshall Islands native.

From 1946-1958, the US detonated 67 atomic bombs on the Marshall Islands, resulting in disastrous health, environmental, and cultural consequences that the Marshallese people are still burdened with today. Leem shares her first-hand experience of growing up with the consequences of this nuclear legacy and climate change, and how this has all shaped her activism.

This season on Press the Button, we’re handing the microphone to members of communities impacted by nuclear weapons so they can share their stories and their experiences the way they want to tell it.

This episode features Shampa Biswas, Professor of Politics at Whitman College and a 2022 Ploughshares Fund Equity Rises grantee. She is working to transform nuclear studies by putting race, colonialism, gender, disability, ecological thinking, and intersectionality right at the center of that study. She explains how intersectional thinking in nuclear policy changes the nature of the conversation, why current thinking surrounding the concept of security can be dangerous, and the ways in which the nuclear field can engage with young people.

February marked the one-year anniversary of Russia’s brutal and unjust invasion of Ukraine. In this special report, Tom Collina sits down with Rose Gottemoeller, former Deputy Secretary General of NATO, to talk about the New START Treaty and Russia’s move to suspend the treaty.

Alex Hall also talks with Andrea Gittleman, the policy director at the Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide. She talks about how nuclear weapons have enabled Russia to violate human rights in Ukraine.

In early February, the world watched as a Chinese “spy balloon” floated across the United States, sparking a furor that led President Biden to postpone a high-level US visit to Beijing. This week, Tom Collina talks with Sahil Shah, senior fellow and program manager at the Council on Strategic Risks. He discusses the balloon, the postponement of the US visit, and how this event affects Chinese threat perceptions. 

On Early Warning, Alex Hall talks with Connor Murray from Council for a Livable World. They discuss prospects for further New START negotiations and the potential fall-out if US and Russia fail to find consensus before the treaty expires.

After nine years as Executive Director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), Beatrice Fihn is stepping down. She talks with Ploughshares President Emma Belcher to reflect on her time leading the organization, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, and her hopes for the future.

On Early Warning, Lauren Billet sits down with Tong Zhao, senior fellow at Carnegie’s Nuclear Policy Program. He discusses the leaked memo by a high-ranking US general predicting a war between the US and China by 2025 and how it furthers the narrative of the “China threat”.

The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists’ have set this year’s clock at 90 seconds to midnight — the closest to midnight it has ever been. Why is the clock so close to midnight and how do we come back from the brink? To answer these questions, Tom Collina talks with Dr. Rachel Bronson, President and CEO of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists.

On Early Warning, Angela Kellett sits down with Lilly Adams, senior outreach coordinator at the Union of Concerned Scientists. They discuss reports that officers who worked in a nuclear missile base have been diagnosed with blood cancer and how nuclear weapons have a long history of negative impacts on people.

We’re now halfway through the Biden Administration’s first term, so it’s time to take stock of the Administration’s national security and nuclear policies. Tom Collina sits down with Matt Duss, former foreign policy advisor to Senator Bernie Sanders and visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP). They discuss Biden’s foreign policy over the past two years.

On Early Warning, Alex Hall talks with Dr. Ellen Kim, deputy director of the Korea Chair at The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). She discusses South Korean President Yoon’s recent remarks that South Korea might consider developing its own nuclear arsenal.

As the war in Ukraine spills from 2022 into 2023, Tom Collina sits down with Kimberly St. Julian-Varnon, PhD student from the University of Pennsylvania, to discuss ongoing developments. She talks about what’s happening in the war in Ukraine right now, what we could expect in the coming year, and how the crisis is turning into a long-term stand-off.

On Early Warning, Lauren Billet talks to Marylia Kelley, Executive Director of Tri-Valley CAREs. They discuss President Eisenhower’s military industrial complex speech and where we currently see unprecedented spending on the military and nuclear weapons development.

To start off the new year, Tom Collina sits down with Ankit Panda, Stanton Senior Fellow in the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the author of Kim Jong Un and the Bomb: Survival and Deterrence in North Korea. He discusses Kim’s plans to increase the production of nuclear weapons and what kind of US diplomatic efforts we might see in response.

On Early Warning, Angela Kellett talks with John Pope, Chief Audience Officer at the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. They discuss the historical significance of the Doomsday Clock as the Bulletin prepares to unveil this year’s clock setting on January 24th.

…and that’s a wrap! Join co-hosts Tom Collina and Lauren Billet as they cover their favorite interviews and stories from the past year. And as an end of the year treat, enjoy a highlight reel that takes you through some of the biggest stories quote by quote.

Since invading Ukraine, Russian President Vladmir Putin has relied on nuclear threats to deter Western intervention and signal his commitment to this war. Ploughshares Fund President Dr. Emma Belcher talks with Dr. Heather Williams, director of the Project on Nuclear Issues and a senior fellow in the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). They discuss the role of nuclear deterrence in the war in Ukraine, whether the war has shifted the current thinking on deterrence theory, and possible pathways for arms control.

On Early Warning, Alex Hall recognizes Human Rights Day with Raeghn Draper, associate partner for mobilization & partnerships at Global Zero. They discuss the human costs of nuclear weapons and how the nuclear abolition movement can learn from other social justice movements.

Revisit Press the Button LIVE: Nuclear Policy in Crisis with us — this time with Ploughshares Fund President Emma Belcher and Mallory Stewart, Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Arms Control, Verification, and Compliance. Stewart discusses the Nuclear Posture Review, New START, China’s nuclear arsenal, and many other issues.

On Early Warning, Angela Kellett speaks with Jessica Sleight, Partner for Strategy, Policy & Partnerships at Global Zero. They discuss Russia’s decision to postpone talks on New START, which is set to expire in 2026, and how Russia’s war in Ukraine has impacted arms control.

Hear more from Ploughshares Fund’s annual policy conference, Press the Button LIVE: Nuclear Policy in Crisis! This week, listen to Ploughshares Fund Executive Director Elizabeth Warner talk with The Chair of the Elders and Former President of Ireland Mary Robinson. She discusses disarmament strategy, the Iran Nuclear Deal, and words of wisdom for the next generation of advocates.

Join us for a recap of Press the Button LIVE: Nuclear Policy in Crisis! Ploughshares Fund President Emma Belcher sits down with IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi to discuss a range of topics: safeguarding the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine, combating misinformation, and the complexity of reaffirming the Iran Nuclear Deal.

The last remaining US-Russia arms control treaty, New START, is set to expire in 2026. This week, Tom Collina talks with Jessica Rogers, impact fellow at the Federation of American Scientists. She discusses the importance of New START, what happens if we fail to replace it, and how we can save arms control.

On Early Warning, Alex Hall talks with John Carl Baker, Nuclear Field Coordinator and Senior Program Officer at Ploughshares Fund. He discusses North Korea’s recent missile tests and the prospects for diplomacy.

This week, Ploughshares Fund President Emma Belcher talks with Tom Wright, senior director for strategy at the National Security Council. He discusses the Biden Administration’s National Security Strategy, Ukraine’s impact on the strategy, and the strategy it outlines towards Russia and China

On Early Warning, Tom Collina speaks with Monica Montgomery from Council for a Livable World. She discusses the upcoming midterms and what impact they might have on US military assistance to Ukraine.

Big news: Biden’s long-awaited Nuclear Posture Review is finally out! This week, Tom Collina talks with Jessica Sleight and Jon Wolfsthal from Global Zero. They review Biden’s nuclear weapons policy, and discuss where it fell short and how it can be improved.

On Early Warning, Angela Kellett sits down with Scott Roecker, Vice President of the Nuclear Material Security Program at the Nuclear Threat Initiative. He discusses Russia’s unsubstantiated allegation that Ukraine is preparing to use a dirty bomb.

This week, Tom Collina speaks with Gregory Kulacki from the Union of Concerned Scientists on US-China relations. Topics include: China’s Party Congress, the effects of the war in Ukraine on US-China relations, and the new US National Security Strategy.

On Early Warning, Lauren Billet talks with Donna Farvard, national organizing director at the National Iranian American Council (NIAC). She discusses the protests for women’s rights in Iran and what NIAC is doing to combat misinformation. (CW: mention of sexual assault threats.)

Amid Putin’s nuclear saber-rattling, what exactly makes a nuclear weapon “tactical” — and is that even the right word to use? This week, Tom Collina talks with Hans Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists. He corrects the many misperceptions of “tactical” nuclear weapons and discusses how Russia could use nuclear weapons in Ukraine.

On Early Warning, Lauren Billet sits down with Allen Hester, who leads the Friends Committee on National Legislation’s Nuclear Disarmament and Pentagon spending portfolio. He discusses the Biden Administration’s newly released National Security Strategy and its implications for the long-awaited Nuclear Posture Review.

Sixty years ago this month, the US and Soviet Union came close to the brink of nuclear war during a tense 13-day stand-off known as the Cuban Missile Crisis. So how did we get that close? How did we successfully de-escalate? Tom Collina discusses this historical event with Dr. Tom Vaughan, lecturer at Aberystwyth University and author of “Nuclear war: does it take luck or reasoning to avoid it? Lessons from the Cuban missile crisis, 60 years on”.
 
On Early Warning, Alex Hall talks with Esther Im, program manager at the National Committee on North Korea. She discusses why we’re seeing an increase in North Korea missile tests how likely it is that a nuclear missile test is forthcoming.

NASA hits a bullseye: this week, Tom Collina sits down with Dr. Laura Grego, senior scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists. She discusses NASA’s recent (and successful) DART mission to hit an asteroid in space and the implications for nuclear policy.

On Early Warning, Angela Kellett talks with Istra Fuhrmann and Alex Toma of The Peace and Security Funders Group. They join the podcast to discuss their recent Chronicles of Philanthropy article: Nuclear Weapons Are an Ever-Present Danger — and Grant Makers Need to Pay Attention.

The war in Ukraine takes another left turn as Russian President Vladimir Putin makes more explicit nuclear threats: this week, Tom Collina sits down with Jon Wolfsthal, senior advisor at Global Zero and author of the sub-stack newsletter BoomBoomBoom. They discuss Putin’s nuclear threats, the fine line the Biden Administration has to walk, and how to avoid further escalation.

On Early Warning, Alex Hall talks with Sara Haghdoosti, executive director of Win Without War. She discusses the nationwide protests in Iran over governmental restrictions on women’s dress, which erupted after Mahsa Amini died in police custody after being arrested by the morality police for allegedly breaking Iran’s policy on hijabs.  

The war in Ukraine may be entering a decisive new phase. On this episode, Tom Collina speaks with Kimberly St. Julian-Varnon at the University of Pennsylvania to discuss Ukraine’s recent counter-offensive, how Russia might respond, and whether the tide of the war has turned.

On Early Warning, Lauren Billet sits down with Barbara Slavin, director of the Future of Iran Initiative and a non-resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council. She discusses recent developments in reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and the potential progress that could be made at the UN General Assembly in New York.

On the Morning You Wake Part 2: Press the Button re-visits the new virtual reality experience exploring Hawai’i’s 2018 false nuclear alarm. This time, Tom Collina talks with Cynthia Lazaroff, founder and director of Women Transforming Our Nuclear Legacy, and Ray Acheson, director of Disarmament at the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom.

On Early Warning, Alex Hall sits down with Colleen Moore, advocacy director at Women Cross DMZ. She discusses the recent developments on the Korean peninsula, which includes the resumption of South Korean drills and the Biden Administration’s decision to extend Trump’s ban prohibiting US passport holders from entering North Korea for one year.

Take a look inside Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia power plant: Tom Collina talks with Dr. Cindy Vestergaard, senior fellow and director of the Nuclear Safeguards program at the Stimpon Center. She discusses the UN Inspector’s visit to the Russia-controlled Zaporizhzhia power plant in Ukraine and why it matters.

On Early Warning, Angela Kellett speaks with Dr. Angela Stent, a senior non-resident fellow at the Brookings Institution and the author of Putin’s World: Russia Against the West and With the Rest. She discusses Mikhail Gorbachev’s passing and the legacy he left behind

After four weeks, the NPT Review Conference concluded without consensus, with Russia blocking approval for the final document. Tom Collina sits down with Gaukhar Mukhatzhanova from the Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation to discuss what this setback to RevCon means for the future of the NPT and arms control.

On Early Warning, Lauren Billet speaks with Dr. Alan Robock, climate scientist and professor from Rutgers University. His new research paper with Dr. Lili Xia warns us that there is no such thing as a limited nuclear war. He discusses the key findings of the report and the humanitarian and environmental consequences that will result from a nuclear conflict between two states.