Ralph Nader Hour (Nov 23, 2025) – Episode Summary

Episode Overview

This episode of the Ralph Nader Radio Hour focuses on two major themes:

1. The Economic and Social Failures of Nuclear Power: A comprehensive discussion featuring former Nuclear Regulatory Commissioner Peter Bradford, who dissects the myths and realities of nuclear energy’s much-touted “renaissance,” especially in light of rising electricity demands from data centers and AI expansion.
2. Biotech Whistleblowing & Lab Safety: Becky McLean, a biotech whistleblower and former Pfizer scientist, details her personal battle for safety, transparency, and justice after being exposed to hazardous viruses in a laboratory, the institutional abandonment she faced, and what her case says about the broader dangers of insufficient oversight in biotech labs.

Co-hosts Steve Scrovan, David Feldman, and producer Hannah Feldman support the lively, urgent conversations.
(Non-content sections, ads, and outro skipped.)

Segment 1: The Nuclear Power “Renaissance” with Peter Bradford

[00:59 – 35:39]

The Myth and Reality of Nuclear Power

• Introduction & Context
  • Recent renewed interest in nuclear power is termed a “renaissance.” However, it's the same cycle: governments pour subsidies into nuclear with promises of innovation, yet cost overruns, inefficiency, and dangers persist.
  • Silicon Valley and data center demands are now being used as justifications for new nuclear projects.

    "They have descended ignorantly in terms of the facts, which we'll see in a moment, on nuclear power as a savior." – Ralph Nader [02:59]

Case Studies: Georgia, South Carolina, Florida

• Customer Pays, Not Investors

  • Utilities shifted economic risks to ratepayers; customers started paying as soon as shovels hit the ground, not when power was produced (“construction work in progress”).

    "They required the customers to pay for non-existent electricity. Just the shovel ready construction process." – Ralph Nader [05:25]

• Massive Waste and Corruption

  • South Carolina & Florida: Projects cancelled after billions wasted.
    • FL: $1B spent, SC: $9B spent “to dig a hole in the ground.”
  • Georgia: Completed after years of overruns/delays; final cost > $30B (projected: $14B), took twice as long.

    "Georgia wound up spending four times what they could have purchased the same amount of clean energy for." – Peter Bradford [06:47]
    “Rates started going up from the day they broke ground... Imagine if your local grocery store wanted to include the price of their new buildings in the food you buy.” – Peter Bradford [05:46]

• Public Backlash

  • Recent elections replaced two pro-nuclear utility commissioners with Democrats pledging greater scrutiny. [08:57]

Four Arguments Against Nuclear Power

1. Economics: Expensive, slow, displaces better solutions.

   "Trying to stop world hunger with caviar. It's too expensive, takes much too long..." – Peter Bradford [10:41]

2. Reactor Safety: Catastrophic events (e.g., Fukushima) have global and lasting impacts.
3. Nuclear Proliferation: Advanced reactors increase weapons risk.
4. Waste Disposal: Virtually unsolved; only Finland and Sweden have real plans.

• Alternatives are Winning
  • Renewables, wind, and energy conservation now vastly outcompete nuclear (and fossil fuels) for new generating capacity worldwide. [12:30]

Pro-Nuclear Rationales (and Debunking Them)

• Climate Crisis Excuse

  • Pro-nuclear politicians invoke “do everything” to fight climate change, but nuclear is the slowest, most expensive tool.
  • Nuclear advocates cite jobs/taxes, but clean energy and efficiency create more and at less cost.

• Advanced Reactors—Hype, Not Reality

  • “None of these reactors are in operation. ...Vendor estimates in the nuclear power industry have been an unvarying road to disappointment.” – Peter Bradford [13:06]

• Continued Cycle of Manipulation

  • Nuclear wins by lobbying for special customer/taxpayer subsidies and not actually competing in open electricity markets.
  • Wall Street won’t invest unless government guarantees all risks; real market economics reject nuclear repeatedly.

    "Their real problem isn't us [critics] at all. It's Wall Street skeptics..." – Peter Bradford [22:37]

Nuclear and Data Center Demands

• Data Centers Want Power Fast—Nuclear Can't Deliver

  • "You can build a data center in 1, 2, 3 years and you can't build a nuclear plant that quickly." [17:17]
  • Advanced reactors are unproven, not licensed, not permitted; mismatch between industry needs and what nuclear can offer.

• Government-Guaranteed Capitalism

  • Trump’s promise of $80B for nuclear, undermining renewables, weakening regulations, and firing NRC commissioners.
  • Nuclear relies on government insurance (Price Anderson Act) because private insurers won’t cover it.

The “Either/Or” False Choice

• Not Nuclear vs. Coal

  • Conservation and renewables are the true—and now dominant—alternatives.

    “It isn’t nuclear or coal. Coal is dwindling… the alternative is conservation, solar, wind power.” – Ralph Nader [23:57]

• Renewables Now Prove Themselves in Markets

  • In electricity auctions, renewables win every time; nuclear doesn't even bid since it can't win on price.

    “Whenever a market runs an auction, those are the winners. Nuclear doesn’t even bid because it costs twice as much.” – Peter Bradford [25:03]

Grid Reliability and Phaseouts

• You Can Shut Down Nukes Without Blackouts
  • E.g., New York’s Indian Point and Germany’s nuclear phaseout caused no blackouts; reliability was easily maintained with renewables and grid improvements.

    “What happened instead was... a number of different alternatives... and the result has been seamless as far as reliability.” – Peter Bradford [27:59]

The AI/Data Center Hysteria

• Overinflated Demand Forecasts
  • Chinese data centers may use a fraction of projected electricity; demand forecasts routinely overshoot.
  • History: Each “new nuclear need” (oil, Soviet threat, now AI) dissipated or was solved without new nuclear builds.

    “Every time, we’re told we need nuclear; and every time, we don’t.” – Peter Bradford [30:09]

Renewables & Grid Integration

• “Wind Doesn’t Always Blow…”—The Oldest Excuse

  • Storage, grid enhancements, demand management, and diverse renewables make round-the-clock reliability possible.

    “Nobody knowledgeable now says renewables aren’t available around the clock.” – Peter Bradford [32:23]

• Federal Policy Can Make or Break the Future

  • Efforts to block grid improvements from wind (e.g., scuttling Midwest-urban grid under Trump) is a sign of fossil/nuke weakness, not strength.

    “What could be a clearer confession of the failure of fossil fuels and nuclear than to have the government kneecap their cleaner, cheaper competitors?” – Peter Bradford [34:19]

Noteworthy Quotes

• “Trying to stop world hunger with caviar.” – Peter Bradford [10:41]
• “They crowd out renewables by soaking up so much capital and government support.” – Peter Bradford [07:40]
• “The incredible thing is that neither the governmental entities nor the media are looking closely at this story at all… The nuclear industry succeeds in fooling the government and the public over and over again.” – Peter Bradford [18:27]
• “Nuclear power only provides 20% of the nation's electricity... It's been stuck at that level for years.” – Ralph Nader [27:05]

Segment 2: Biotech Whistleblower Becky McLean – Lab Safety & Corporate Cover-Ups

[37:04 – 56:41]

Becky McLean’s Story

• Background

  • Pfizer microbiologist; raised alarms about safety lapses
  • Exposed to a synthetic virus due to neglected safety protocols, left seriously ill

• Systemic Abandonment

  • Isolated by colleagues, shunned by superiors, professional societies ignored her
  • Regulatory abandonment: OSHA not only ignored her plight but seized privileged documents

    “OSHA throughout my cases ... stole all of my attorney-client privileged documents. They were definitely working for corporations.” – Becky McLean [44:20]

• Legal Gauntlet

  • Denied medical and exposure records under the guise of “trade secrets”; workers’ comp claims denied for same dubious reason.
  • Despite all, she pursued lawsuits—a lone plaintiff lawyer took her federal case.
    • 2010: Won $1.3m whistleblower verdict for free speech rights; no compensation for medical damages.
    • Pfizer appealed, lost; verdict eventually paid after years of delay.

• High Stakes Retaliation

  • Husband Mark suffered “backdoor retaliation,” threatened with job loss/firing to force her silence.

    “The strategy with backdoor retaliation... is to then go after their spouse who has the remaining income.” – Becky McLean [50:32]

• Wider Pattern of Suppression

  • Recounts other injured workers silenced by gag orders—legal settlements requiring lifelong silence as condition for payout.

    “Injured workers, especially in biotech, are forced to sign gag orders... so the public has no clue of the injuries occurring or their degree.” – Becky McLean [46:50]

• Government and Political Failure

  • Lawmakers (except Sen. Chris Dodd’s review of her case) refused to intervene, prioritizing biotech profits/funding over safety.
    • Biotech (including embryonic research) was lucrative and politically protected, further silencing whistleblowers.

The Larger Danger: Lab Safety as Public Health

• Invisible Catastrophes

  • McLean’s experience exposes the routine, underreported risks inside corporate and government labs working with dangerous pathogens.
  • Lapses in safety, lack of whistleblower protection, and suppression via NDA/gag orders create silent, systemic hazards.

    “Workers rights and public safety are inseparable and both under threat. The next epidemic could be preventable if workers had real protections.” – Becky McLean [45:47]

• The Urgent Need for Reform

  • Make gag orders about health and safety illegal; strengthen free speech and whistleblower rights

  • Require labs to provide exposure records – essential for medical care, not “trade secrets.”

    “Exposure records... aren't just papers, they're key to medical care... Trade secrets superseded my right to them.” – Becky McLean [48:32]

  • “The government could not require you to shut up under the First Amendment, but corporations can. That’s one of the demonstrations of courage that Becky McLean has been reflecting over the years.” – Ralph Nader [47:45]

Becky’s Call to Action

• Read her book: Exposed: A Pfizer Scientist Battles Corruption, Lies and Betrayal and Becomes a Biohazard Whistleblower

• Demand local media coverage, congressional hearings, and lab accountability

• Ask local labs about their exposure record policies; push for laws against gag orders; spotlight OSHA’s shortcomings

  “If it can happen at Pfizer, it can happen anywhere. I hope my story and the book can lead to some positive and safer changes for the future.” – Becky McLean [56:02]

Key Timestamps

• 00:59 – Introduction to nuclear power discussion
• 05:25 – “Construction work in progress” explained
• 08:57 – Georgia commissioner elections reflect backlash
• 10:41 – Four categories of argument against nuclear
• 13:06 – Pro-nuclear arguments dissected
• 17:17 – Why data centers/AI boom is wrong argument for new nuclear
• 25:03 – Renewables now regularly beat nuclear in open markets
• 27:59 – Nuclear shutdowns and grid reliability in NY and Germany
• 32:23 – Renewables & round-the-clock reliability
• 34:19 – Government’s anti-renewable interventions as proof of nuclear/fossil failure
• 37:04 – Becky McLean segment begins
• 44:20 – OSHA’s role in suppressing whistleblowers
• 46:50 – Gag orders in biotech sector
• 50:32 – “Backdoor” retaliation against spouse
• 56:02 – Becky’s closing message

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Trying to stop world hunger with caviar. It’s too expensive, takes much too long...” – Peter Bradford [10:41]
• “The incredible thing is the nuclear industry succeeds in fooling the government and public over and over again for what’s essentially the same old story.” – Peter Bradford [18:27]
• “OSHA... stole all my attorney-client privileged documents. They were definitely working for corporations.” – Becky McLean [44:20]
• "Injured workers, especially in the biotech industry, are forced to sign gag orders... It’s a way to hide the dangers in the laboratories." – Becky McLean [46:50]
• “A megawatt you save is a megawatt you don’t have to produce.” – Ralph Nader [23:57]

Tone and Takeaway

The tone throughout is urgent, unsparing, and deeply skeptical of both nuclear/biotech industry narratives and governmental regulatory failure. Both segments champion whistleblowers and public accountability, warning that only persistent public and political action can counter entrenched industry interests and avert systemic risks—whether from radioactive boondoggles or invisible pathogens.

Links:

• Ralph Nader Radio Hour
• [Book: Exposed by Becky McLean] (details and further resources provided at the end of the episode)