and thinner and now we're also introducing the fact that we have a regulator where the nuclear regulatory commission in our sea clearly stands more and more for no regulatory control and as we lose control as we see plants agent deteriorate we're only as converging courses for a catastrophe and then that's our concern right now that that this is an inherently dangerous industry that's losing oversight and getting older and deteriorating in with new acronyms that we haven't even talked about and that frankly wouldn't even exist if we the people through a price. anderson didn't insure it is it if the market will have nothing to do with it all thank you so much great to have you kevin thank you thank you for showing up so. you can watch this conversation again by going to our website conversations with great minds dot com coming up after the break june jobs numbers were released today the republicans have been weighing in but when they talk about the weak economy and they're really bragging and what's the real purpose of voter id laws stopping illegal voting or throwing democratic voters off the rolls

nuclear regulatory commission the e.p.a. welcome to both of you gentlemen thank you first of all was there anything in that . hall that was in error not at all i mean this is a. we've set a precedent now with nuclear accidents that i think is going to remain with us we're certainly concerned about the future and certainly the future of residents in japan and and kevin the the it's been sixteen months now is the focus the anywhere anything close to being out of the woods well just in the last couple of weeks there was a breakdown and the cooling system in the unit for pool for high level radioactive waste storage so the fear for many many months since the beginning of this catastrophe was that the unit for pool could suffer a catastrophic drain down of cooling water from a large earthquake but what was shown repeatedly now over the course of months is that simple breakdowns of the mechanics will start that pool to boiling and if it boils for long enough for a couple three days it's going to boil the cooling water down to the

in the written testimony you had mentioned in terms of the epa working with a nuclear regulatory commission and you said they should begin working together to define an appropriate process for developing a generic disposal facility safety standard and associated implements of regulations. was there a similar process in terms of developing that safety standard what came of yucca mountain. was that there? it seemed that the process took a long, long time. what are your thoughts there? >> for yucca mountain the -- there were difficulties in demonstrating compliance with the existing safety standards. so congress did direct the national academies to study the question and issue a report upon which a new safety standard could be issued and this occurred after the site had been selected. so in my professional judgment i think that the standard that was developed is reasonably protective. but to do this after you've picked the site and then to change the safety standard that is required to me through legislation i think does damage confidence in the entire process. and this is one of the reasons w

there were some hearings about the head of the nuclear regulatory commission. the industry did not like the fact he was trying to regulate, so the action had congressional hearings to try to put them on the carpet. as a result, he resigned. so this kind of corporate pressure on congress works its way down to the commissioners -- there are five of them. the commissioners of fact the staff. it is just as insidious here as it is in japan. in fact, i think, worldwide. >> arnie gundersen, thank you. former nuclear industry engineer. we have to take a break, but will return in a moment. stay with us. ♪ [music break] ♪ [music break] >> this is "democracy now!," democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm juan gonzalez. we turn now to a shocking new story about u.s. secret operations in africa. the nation magazine has just published an exposÉ title, "how the u.s. rendered, tortured and discarded one innocent man." the article by human rights investigator clara gutteridge recounts the ordeal of the tanzanian man named suleiman abdallah who is captured in mogadishu i

and the situation in terms of spending those moneys looks more like how we fund the nuclear regulatory commission. the fees offset appropriations and congress is not faced with the dilemma of needing to cut other programs in order to fund something that's being paid for by fees. this is really critical because i think that the community really wants to have confidence that the facility will receive adequate funding. the final element was that the office in its 30 year history never had a single director who served for more than two years. in other words, there was a lack of continuity of leadership that if you think about the process to have the leader of an organization go into local community and them knowing that that person is not likely to bo around say in 18 months also would be a really serious problem. so this is another reason why we think some type of new organization does need to be created to take on these responsibilities to have the continuity of leadership that can give confidence to local communities that the federal government ultimately will live up to its obligations. >> okay.

the government cannot allow any other restarts until the creation of the new nuclear regulatory commission so people here will have to wait to find out when power will flow from the plants other than from ohi. >> thank you very much. >> sure. >>> palestinian officials plan to investigate the death of yasser arafat. the long time leader died in 2004. a media report suggests he may have been assassinated. the broadcaster said swiss researchers found traces of highly radioactive materials on arafat's clothing. a palestinian authority spokesperson said president abbas ordered an inquiry into arafat's death. this could involve exhuming his body. a senior member of the palestinian liberation organization called for an investigation by an international panel. the cause of arafat's death has never been clarified. palestinians have long suspected he was assassinated. >>> egypt's new president took office saying his door would be open to all citizens. members of the public appear to be taking him at his word. crowds have flocked to mohamed morsi's office every day since his inauguration last week. t

and while i would hope that all would be sweetness and light over at the nuclear regulatory commission, i seriously doubt that that will be the case. so don't be afraid to stick up for your guns and do what is right for the american people even if that puts you on the losing side of a vote. for in the end, madam chair, your term as chairman will be judged on whether you have successfully completed the task of fully implementing the nrc task force recommendation on fukushima, on insuring that there is safety in the disposal of nuclear waste. and that will be your legacy. notwithstanding the fact that there are going to be ore members of the -- other member of the commission who disagree with that agenta. >> gentleman's time has expired. now recognize mr. walden for five minutes. >> i thank the chairman, and i welcome the new chairwoman to the commission, we appreciate you and your colleagues and the important role you play in providing safety and security for the nation's facilities. as my colleagues up and down the aisle and across the aisle, we all believe that's an essential part of

developed so the commission has recommended the environmental protection agency and the nuclear regulatory commission which this committee has jurisdiction over should begin working together to define an appropriate process for developing a generic disposal facility safety standard and associate the implementing regulations. the fifth recommendation relates to prompt efforts to develop one or more consolidated storage facilities. developing consolidated storage capacity would allow the federal government to begin the orderly transfer of spent fuel from reactor sites to safe and secured centralized facilities independent of the schedule for operating a permanent repository. the arguments in favor of consolidated storage are strongest for stranded spent fuel, shut down plant sites of which there are ten across the country. stranded fuel should be first in line for the transfer to consolidate a facility so the plant sites can be completely decommissioned and put to other beneficial uses. the availability of consolidated storage will also provide valuable flexibility in the nuclear waste management syste

post just yesterday senator reid the senate majority leader was quoted as saying that the nuclear regulatory commission is an industry front. he called the guy who lied to his face he said yeah you call the international one of the n.r.c. commissioners and that's true and most of the commissioners are just industry rubber stamps and here's the senate majority leader saying that's the case here and that was blamed in japan for the fukushima disaster the collusion between regulators and industry we have it right here and we're also using the same exact design plan so the fukushima have the spent fuel is in there you know i don't know my general election season though just said nuclear is not the way to go he just said that the last couple years is we should listen to him thank you thanks a lot and really show them care is beyond nuclear the world is waking up to the dangers of nuclear power but we also need to be waking up to the dangers of fossil fuels which are accelerating global climate change ice in greenland is now melting in a president and president great excuse me and we're just coming off one o

the restart plans must be approved by the federal nuclear regulatory commission.off-line since january when a tube broke in a steam generator, releasing small amounts of radiation. >>> do you wonder how long you will live or risk for serious disease? a mountain view company wants to give you the answers. for $299 you can spit into a container and have it shipped to a lab. workers will analyze the cells and determine chances of getting everything from psoriasis to parkinson's. 20andme has been providing the service for five years, so far 150,000 people have signed up. in order to attract more customers they are hoping for fda approval in months. >> in industry needs some oversight to grow confidence. >> if i did get testing done and found i'm predisposed to some disease i would be freaked out. >> [ unintelligible ] >>> some people say they are not interested in genetic testing even with fda approval. >>> next, could a new deal be brewing for pete's coffee? /hÑ the company and its main competitor. >>> whether it is with a piece of bread or your favorite salad no sho

on c-span 3, the head of the nuclear regulatory commission will testify about his safety regulations. she will be joined by her fellow commission members before a joint house energy and fed committee. coming up in about 45 minutes, maryland congressman chris van hollen is the top democrat of the budget committee to talk about finance legislation and tax increases. ron paul will join us in about 90 minutes to discuss the november elections and his house bill on the federal reserve which is on the floor today. also, the co-chairman of the state budget crisis taskforce on sexual problems facing the state budget. plus today's news and your calls plus today's news and your calls on "washington

on a day when the nuclear regulatory commission actually met to talk about design flaws in the americanlearn lessons from the meltdown in japan, the nuclear plant, which is located about an hour outside of l.a., is raising major red flags tonight. cnn's kyung lah is "outfront" on the story. >> reporter: fire crews scramble to the nuclear plant in southern california in january. responding to a small radioactive release of steam. the reactor was immediately shut down and remains offline seven months later. the plant operator says there was no radiation released to the community. but this safety scare renewed calls to shut down the ageing nuclear plant in earthquake prone california. >> why are we living with these risks? these crazy risks? >> and an expensive one. approximately 700 million was authorized for replacement of steam generate ors just two years ago. the same ones that are faulty. the cost was passed on to customers. the big question now, throw more money to fix it or replace it to keep the reactors going? in a place prone to quakes. southern california edison says the plant c

there's ten more getting their licenses from the nuclear regulatory commission. i don't think we'll see a lot more than four operating by 2020. i do think you'll see more in the pipeline for both licensi and construction b >> rin e w bldomew ti to relicense the existing ones? >> i don't know. i can't say what's good for america. o-- issues around nuclear power still existed. it still needs loan guarantees fro the federal government. there's no insurance company that will touch a nuclear plant, and the liability is limid to fr now ius so, -- and we saw -- talk to seem marks i don't -- fukushima, i don't know the eventual costs, wee a dt tnks half- jus t surprisingly. we're preddette polarized society and some states are more friendly touclear power than others. in california we're prohibited from building any new plans ti tas i isold. >>oual a ssissue and the liability issue. >> first of all, on loan guarantee. no plant has a loan guarantee. one company is talking bit it. it wou reduce the cost of capital which saves the thisk to gerts it pje fincing-it's on the b

in operation after its parent company, entergy corporation, won an extension from the nuclear regulatory commissionsubsequent court battle. the vermont yankee facility is one of the oldest in the country and has had a series of radioactive tritium leaks. on sunday, anti-nuclear activists approached the yankee plant with a 600-pound, handmade trojan california filled renewable energy devices. organizers said they plan to launch a flotilla next month to raise awareness about the plant's polluting of the connecticut river. the oil giant shell has obtained what critics are calling a pro protest-free zone around a drilling vessel set to begin operations off alaska's arctic coast later this month. the u.s. coast guard has granted shell's's noda discover vessel a 500-meter safety zone that no demonstrators will be allowed to enter. shell's bid to begin exploratory drilling in the arctic was approved last month over the objections of indigenous and environmental groups. a singapore physician and peace activist who is been working in afghanistan has been denied permission to enter the united states. doctor

. >> the nuclear regulatory commission says despite the drought, plants continue to operate safely andseeing now is consistent to what they have seen in the past during heat waves. suzanne? >> so what can be done if to ensure the water temperature you talked about that is being discharged from the power plants that it is not too hot. how do you control that? >> well, this is what a lot of people may not want to hear because besides from power plants scaling back on their energy production or asking for a waiver to discharge hotter water, the best thing for everyone to do is scale back on using electricity, but that's also very hard given the extreme heat. >> all right. sandra, thank you. appreciate it. >>> you've been waiting to buy a plane ticket, might want to wait a few more weeks because prices are going down. we'll tell you how much up ahead. ct swing begins with back pain and a choice. take advil, and maybe have to take up to four in a day. or take aleve, which can relieve pain all day with just two pills. good eye. which can relieve pain all day with just two pills. it's hard to

>> the nuclear regulatory commission says despite the drought, plants continue to operate safely and is consistent to what they've seen in the past during heat waves. carol? >> we'll keep your fingers crossed. sandra endo reporting live from washington. >>> are you looking to book a flight. airfares are expected to take a dive next month. we'll tell you how much. ♪ i want to win [ breathes deeply ] ♪ this is where the dream begins ♪ ♪ i want to grow ♪ i want to try ♪ i can almost touch the sky [ male announcer ] even the planet has an olympic dream. dow is proud to support that dream by helping provide greener, more sustainable solutions from the olympic village to the stadium. solutionism. the new optimism.™ ♪ this dream to experience the ultimate expression of power -- control. ♪ during the golden opportunity sales event, get great values on some of our newest models. this is the pursuit of perfection. anyone have occasional constipation, diarrhea, gas, bloating? yeah. one phillips' colon health probiotic cap each day helps defend against these digestive issues with three strains o

because of the disaster in japan, we learned from experience it may well be that the nuclear regulatory commission will want to put out new regulations in light of what we have learned in what the japanese didn't do right. as long as unemployment is above 6% we must continue to risk all of our lives, that makes no sense. second of all, we want to do environmental streamlining and what this bill says is that if an environmental impact statement takes longer than a certain number of days, forget about it. but it's the sponsor, not the nuclear regulatory agency, but the sponsor that controls the timing. if you know you have a project that is an environmental disaster, all you have to do is slow-walk the agency and don't worry about any environmental consequences and risks the public safety and i urge adoption of this amendment. the chair: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from florida. mr. ross: let's look at this. if the sponsoring agency decides to hold back and there is a presumption or approval, who better to have the onus of having to prove that it should not be built than those wh

today a look at operations at nuclear regulatory commission by two house subcommittees. will testify. we'll bring you live coverage starting at 10 a.m. eastern on our companion networking c-span 3. >> this was a kind of job, if you can't disagree or degree venn mentally without taking it personally and without, you know, hating the person who is on the other side, you want to find another job. >>> supreme court associate justice reflects on over 25 years on the bench and interpreting legal documents in his late "reading law." sunday at 8:00 on c-span q and a. >> now more from the subcommittee. an official what the government accountability office criticizes homeland security department for not regulating the increase use of drones in the country. it is an panel. >> recognize the second panel.ta before i do that i want to askne unanimous consent the welcome a colleague and federal texan toad introduce the hometown sheriff. >> thank you. you you for the committee for allowing me the special privilege today. i'm pleased to be able to introduce the committee today not only c

>> the nuclear regulatory commission says despite the drought, plants continue to operate safely ande seeing now is consistent to what they've seen in the past during heat waves. joe. >> well, at least that's good to know. thank you so much for that sandra. >> sure. >>> a high school basketball star on the verge of a new life. now among the latest murder statistics in chicago's soaring violent crimes. >>> and more embarrassing headlines for mitt romney overseas after a top aide curses at reporters asking questions. will he be forced to do damage control once he's back in the u.s.? energy is being produced to power our lives. while energy development comes with some risk, north america's natural gas producers are committed to safely and responsibly providing generations of cleaner-burning energy for our country, drilling thousands of feet below fresh water sources within self-contained well systems. and, using state-of-the-art monitoring technologies, rigorous practices help ensure our operations are safe and clean for our communities and the environment. we're america's natural gas.

tomorrow, the new head of the nuclear regulatory commission will testify with fellow commission members about new safety regulations. coverage is at 10:00 a.m. eastern on c-span3. and later in the day, a hearing on the cable television act that passed in 1992. it had a goal of providing consumers expanded content choices and lower rates. executives will testify. live at 2:30 eastern. next, dianne feinstein speaks at a forum on u.s. global intelligence and security issues. she also talked about the recent national security leaks and the cia predator program. this is an hour 15 minutes. >> good afternoon, everyone. i hope you are all enjoying the nice lunch we have here today. thank you for being here. i am delighted to be here. the world affairs council is without peer in educating the public about issues critical to our world and times. the service it performs is invaluable. the distinguished speaker series is one such a service that we are going to enjoy the benefit of today. today we are honored to have with this a person who has given her entire adult life to public service and i thi

nuclear regulators to be free from industry influence. they will exclude anyone with close ties from the industry from a new regulatory body. officials will set up a new commission by september to replace the nuclear and industrial safety agency. the agency is part of the ministry which promotes nuclear energy. that relationship drew public criticism in the wake of the fukushima nuclear accident. the commission will consist of five aspects. government guidelines forbid members who worked for a utility company or other nuclear related businesses in the past three years. they also will allow anyone who received $6,000 per year from related businesses. >>> japanese officials are trying to lure them back to disaster hit regions. foreign ministry officials have started with multiple visas for tourists visiting affected areas. tourists from china can show an itinerary that shows a visit it was one of the three hardest hit prefectures and need to have an income above a certain limit. the visas allow them to ent jerry pan as many times as they want over a three year period. the number of chinese tourists has been rising sharply since march 11 last year and dropped signi

nuclear regulatory agencies were no better. it evaluates their level of expertise as poor. it says the nuclear and industrial safety agency and the nuclear safety commission didn't maintain independence from pro-nuclear government bodies and didn't prioritize public safety. panel chair kurokawa emphasized the key points the panel members concluded in the final report. >> i think we have to have sharing the value of this process and this recommendation to a greater public in japan but also to the world. because that is the reason we made this committee meeting in addition to many inquiry and interviews and fact-finding sort of examination of any papers and documents. but a committee meeting has been opened. and also with simultaneous translation in english. you can see that, and here you may see how the leader of that time we invited many people -- about 38 -- how they respond to our dialogue in open session. this, i think, perhaps -- this is the lesson to be learned, and we like to share this with the world and also just ask for expertise and opinion into our society so that we could really contribute by learning a lesson and sharing this lesson with the

nuclear regulatory agencies were no better. it evaluates their level of expertise as poor. it says the nuclear and industrial safety agency and the nuclear safety commission didn't maintain independence from pro-nuclear government bodies and didn't prioritize public safety. >>> nhk world's mitsuk mitsuko nishikawa has spent the day reading the report. you've read the script in detail. this diet appointed panel says fukushima daiichi accident clearly was a manmade disaster. how did member comes to that conclusion? >> well, they argue collusion between the government, tepco and nuclear regulators caused the accident. they point out all three groups showed a lack of governance. and they say they failed to correctly develop the most basic safety requirements. for example, assessing the probability of damage and developing evacuation plans. they say the disaster could have and should have foreseen and prevented. >> the report criticized then prime minister naoto kan and his office saying their actions actually got in the way of efforts to respond to the disaster. can you give us an example of what they did wrong? >> well, the report says communication between

san onofre could restart pun -- the nuclear regular that rory -- rig la tori commission must a -- regulatoryssion must approval the of it. he's accused of a hit and run injack -- of a hit and run p accident. >>> 8:19. the roller coaster ride that came to an abrupt large the questions that are still up in the air two days later. >>> puck speaking of air. look out -- speaking of air, look at our window. >>> welcome back. days after it stalled in midair, the new superman ride at vallejo six flacks discovery kingdom remains closed. technicians were scheduled to ride diagnostic tests -- diagnostic tests overnight. no one was hurt but it did take 90 minutes before any were back on the ground. >> i'm a little scared but i will probably ride it. if it happens again, oh, well, it looks fun. >> i would wait a couple of months until things are smoothed a then i would probably ride it. >>> r homeowner -- all right. sal is coming back. he's watching 280 and everything else. 280, 101, 5. look at 280. there's very slow -- it's very slow. so you need to give yourself extra time. northbound 101 busy. so is 8

there's ten more getting their licenses from the nuclear regulatory commission. i don't think we'll see a lomore than four operating by 2020. i do thinkou'll s mor ipinforicsi d uc b 2020. >> joe rubin? america will build some new ones and continue to relicense the existing ones? >> i don't know. i can't say what's gd for ic t that it's -- there's a lot of -- the issues around nuclear power still existed. it still needs loan guarantees from the federalovernment. an t ls donsuran companyat will, $22 billion which would come from nuclear power industry. so, -- and we saw -- talko seem marks i don't -- fukushima, i don't know the entl ct eoeayalf aus to answer your question, i think we're a nation divide. not surpringly. we're preddette polarized society and some states are mor otrs.dly to nuclear per than fruig yew h until the waste issue is solved. >> you talk about subsidy issue and the liability issue. >> first of all, on ln guarantee. no plant has a loan guarantee. one company is talkingit wld re cf cuoney.ses t the risk to the government is zero. it's not a pr