My Nuclear Life

Latest Episodes:

Soviet bone records, Tom Lehrer, and music for your nuclear protest with Tim & Joanna Smolko May 11, 2021

Show notes

In this episode of My Nuclear Life, host Shelly Lesher speaks with Tim and Joanna Smolko, authors of Atomic Tunes: The Cold War in American and British Popular Music. They discuss atomic music across the decades including how music influenced The Women’s March for Peace, how Soviet’s made records out of x-ray films, and how David Hasselhoff became a Cold War icon.

Listen along with the Spotify Playlist or at YouTube.

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Deep beneath the surface: Innovating nuclear waste disposal with Elizabeth Muller Apr 27, 2021

Show notes

In this episode, Lexie Weghorn and Shelly Lesher discuss nuclear waste disposal with Elizabeth Muller, CEO of Deep Isolation. Topics include nuclear energy’s “waste problem”, how nuclear waste is currently stored, and options for our future.
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Hanford Lab Pt. 2: How the DOE got into the museum business with Robert Franklin Apr 13, 2021

Show notes

In this episode, Shelly continues her conversation with Robert Franklin, Archivist & Oral Historian at the Hanford History Project. They discuss how Hanford's B-Reactor became a Manhattan Project National Historical Site, local vs. national interpretation of history, the local high school mascot, and civil rights.
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Hanford Lab Pt. 1: The triumph of the engineer with Robert Franklin Apr 13, 2021

Show notes

In this episode, Shelly and Robert Franklin, Archivist & Oral Historian of the Hanford History Project dive into the history of the Hanford Laboratory and B-Reactor located in Washington State. They discuss why this site is the lesser known of the Manhattan project laboratories and what you can see if you visit today.
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Quarky News: Volk Field 1962 Apr 06, 2021

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In this new segment of My Nuclear Life find out what happens at Volk Field one snowy night in 1962.
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Radium: Luxurious, Beautiful, Expensive, and Modern with Lucy Santos Mar 30, 2021

Show notes

In this episode Shelly Lesher and Lucy Jane Santos, author of the book Half Lives: The Unlikely History of Radium discuss the beauty industry, salons, and radium in consumer products.
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Nuclear newsletters, queer theory, and Freedom of Information with Martin Pfeiffer Mar 16, 2021

Show notes

In this episode of My Nuclear Life, host Shelly Lesher interviews Martin Pfeiffer, a Ph.D. student of anthropology at the University of New Mexico. He is best known for his twitter account, @NuclearAnthro. Topics discussed include Sandia National Laboratory Newsletters, the intersection of queer theory and nuclear weapons, The Freedom of Information Act in relation to obtaining material from the Department of Energy, and lots and lots of laughs. Marty's webpage: Pfeiffer Nuclear Weapons and National Security Archive
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The War Science Won? Building the bomb, ingenuity, and politics with Richard Rhodes (Pt. 3) Mar 02, 2021

Show notes

Part 3 of our conversation with Richard Rhodes, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book, The Making of the Atomic Bomb. The conversation picks up the historical narrative of the WWII development and deployment of the atomic bomb right where it left off: with the US engaged in the conflict and scientists gathered in Los Alamos, NM to build the bomb. As the story moves toward its conclusion, listeners hear about the process of building the bomb and the end of the war.
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How to turn the US into a factory: Beer in Hanford, Silver from Fort Knox, and PO Box 1663 with Richard Rhodes (Pt. 2) Jan 01, 2021

Show notes

In this episode of My Nuclear Life, Shelly Lesher continues her conversation with Richard Rhodes, author of award winning book, The Making of the Atomic Bomb. Their previous conversation left off with the time in history where the atomic bomb was only a theoretical plan in the scientific community. This episode picks back up with Richard introducing a man who managed the atomic bomb project named General Groves. Also discussed are Fermi and the first chain reaction, the risks scientists took to end the war, building the factories to produce bomb material, and preparing to create the bomb itself.
Part 2 of 3.
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How it all began: Europe, fission, and the Nazis with Richard Rhodes (Pt. 1) Jan 01, 2021

Show notes

Today on My Nuclear Life, host Shelly Lesher speaks with Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Rhodes. This conversation has been broken up into three parts. This Part 1 discussion includes topics like the beginning of nuclear science as a field until the Manhattan Project was approved. You will hear parts of a speech in this episode given by Otto Hahn at the University of California, Berkeley and excerpt from Otto Frisch in 1967 from his talk called Fission: How it All Began.
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