On this special edition of From the Vault we join the five Pacifica Radio stations as part of a national ‘Nuclear Energy Teach-in and Compassion for Japan’ broadcast. With the possible release of massive amounts of radioactive material from Japanese nuclear energy facilities affected by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, the Pacifica Network is dedicating today’s broadcast to help clarify the consequences of this serious situation and to reassess the role of nuclear energy in our global society.
The Pacifica Radio Archives has contributed to this effort by presenting a mix of historic recordings from Pacifica’s broadcast legacy that give context to the discussion. Audio components in this episode include Lord Bertrand Russell from 1958 speaking on the morality of nuclear weapons, a debate between atomic scientists Linus Pauling and Edward Teller from 1961, reports from the near-catastrophic nuclear accidents in 1979 at the Three Mile Island power plant, a 1984 message from Coretta Scott King against nuclear weapons, selections from the 1979 Survival Sunday event against nuclear weapons, and a 2007 Survival Sunday reunion between musicians Graham Nash, Bonnie Raitt, and Jackson Browne.
From the Vault is presented through the Pacifica Radio Archives Preservation and Access Project, funded in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, past grants from the Grammy Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the American Archive funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, along with the generous support of Pacifica Radio Listeners.
First broadcast on April 8, 2011.