Fukushima #236

October 25, 2013

This week, Rachelle Saunders spends the hour discussing the disaster at Japan's Fukushima nuclear reactor. She'll examine the impacts on the environment,  public health and the reputation of nuclear power, with Dr. Charles Ferguson, president of the Federation of American Scientists, and former project director of the Independent Task Force on U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policy at the Council on Foreign Relations, and Dr. Rob Tarzwell, specialist in nuclear medicine and psychiatry, and creator of the One Minute Medical School video series.

Guests:

  • Charles Ferguson
  • Rob Tarzwell

Guest Bios

Charles Ferguson

Dr. Charles Ferguson is president of the Federation of American Scientists. Prior to joining FAS, Dr. Ferguson served as the project director of the Independent Task Force on U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policy, chaired by William J. Perry and Brent Scowcroft, at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). Previously, from 2002 to 2004, Dr. Ferguson had been with the Monterey Institute's Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS) as its scientist-in-residence. At CNS, he co-authored the bookThe Four Faces of Nuclear Terrorism and was also lead author of the award-winning report "Commercial Radioactive Sources: Surveying the Security Risks", which was published in January 2003 and was one of the first post-9/11 reports to assess the radiological dispersal device, or "dirty bomb", threat. This report won the 2003 Robert S. Landauer Lecture Award from the Health Physics Society. From 2000 to 2002, he served as a physical scientist in the Office of the Senior Coordinator for Nuclear Safety at the U.S. Department of State, where he helped develop U.S. government policies on nuclear safety and security issues.

Rob Tarzwell

Dr. Rob Tarzwell is a medical specialist with dual certification in psychiatry and nuclear medicine. He has a special interest in radiophobia, the irrational fear of radioactivity, and he engages in efforts to communicate the true risks and benefits of nuclear power to the general public. He is also the creator of One Minute Medical School on YouTube.