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Fears Of Hezbollah Threats Persist In Northern Israel; Jordanian Air Force Drops Critical Aid Into Gaza; Vladimir Putin Emboldened As Army Advances On Nearly All Front Lines; Donald Trump's Tariffs Poised To Drive Up Price Of U.S.-Made Cars; China Release Three Americans Held For Years; Dr. Jay Bhattacharya Picked To Lead National Institute Of Health; Bhattacharya Set to Work With RFK Jr. If Confirmed; Judge Rejects Sean Diddy Combs' Third Request for Release; U.S. Eyes Return to Nuclear Power, Lacks Plan for Waste; Rainy, Snowy Holiday in Eastern U.S., Cold Air to Follow; Millions Travel for Holiday, Air Traffic Slow in Northeast; Final Preparations Underway for Macy's Parade. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired November 28, 2024 - 02:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:00:30]

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world, and to everyone streaming us on CNN Max, I'm Rosemary Church.

Just ahead, renewed hope and optimism in Lebanon, where the cease fire between Israel and Hezbollah appears to be holding for now, but many remain skeptical it will last.

Several of the new Capitol picks for Donald Trump's next term have been targeted with bomb threats and so called swatting incidents.

And nearly 80 million Americans are traveling for the Thanksgiving holiday, but will the weather spoil their plans?

ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta. This is CNN NEWSROOM with Rosemary Church.

CHURCH: Good to have you with us, and we begin in Lebanon as a major cease fire between Israel and Hezbollah appears to be holding for a second day. The country's army is ramping up its presence in the South as part of the deal to prevent Hezbollah from regrouping there.

Thousands of displaced people are already returning home to Beirut and its suburbs, which faced intense bombardment during the conflict. Officials say the Lebanese army is bolstering its presence to roughly 10,000 troops in the south, and schools, many of which had been turned into makeshift shelters are expected to reopen on Monday. Residents say they're happy things are slowly improving.

Humanitarian aid is also on the way to southern Lebanon, and the Lebanese prime minister says, now the process of healing and rebuilding can begin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NAJIB MIKATI, LEBANESE PRIME MINISTER (through translator): It is a new day, concluding one of the most difficult stages of suffering that the Lebanese have experienced in their modern history. Today begins the thousand mile roads to reconstruct what was destroyed and to continue to strengthen the role of the legitimate institutions led by the military, who we place great hopes in to enforce authority over the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Meantime, an Israeli security official says northern Israeli residents can decide for themselves when to return home, but some residents of northern border communities are not ready to do so just yet. CNN's Jeremy Diamond has our report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: So, you're back in Shtula with all the dogs?

ORI ELIYAHU, SHTULA RESIDENT: Yes. I am at home. It's not really home at the moment, but --

DIAMOND (voice-over): Ori Eliyahu is one of just a handful of residents living in this Israeli community along the Lebanese border. But he's not back because he thinks it's safe.

ELIYAHU: So, basically not -- it's not just that this is Lebanon, Jebel Blat, you see here the mountain?

DIAMOND: Yes.

ELIYAHU: Those houses are Hezbollah's houses. They are shooting missiles from there.

DIAMOND (voice-over): The new ceasefire agreement means Hezbollah must withdraw from this area, about 25 miles north of the Israeli border. But like many others in Northern Israel, Ori doesn't trust Hezbollah, nor the Israeli government's assurances that it will prevent Hezbollah from regrouping.

On the first day of this new ceasefire, Shtula is just as much of a ghost town as when we visited over the summer.

DIAMOND: Let's go quick.

DIAMOND (voice-over): Back then, the Israeli military gave us just three minutes to see homes struck by anti-tank missiles, fearing Hezbollah could strike again.

DIAMOND: I remember when I came here with --

DIAMOND (voice-over): Today, overlooking that same view, standing along that same devastated home, that threat seems further away, but for how long?

DIAMOND: Your fear is that this agreement won't prevent this from happening again?

ELIYAHU: You are saying it's a fear. It's not fear. It's not fear, it's effect. Here in the Middle East, this is how you go. This is how thing works. If a terrorist can shoot you, he'll shoot you.

DIAMOND (voice-over): He says his neighbors, among the roughly 60,000 Israelis displaced from the north, don't feel safe enough to return.

ELIYAHU: They won't do it. We are speaking about it all the time in the WhatsApp group and in the phone, anywhere, everywhere. They want -- they are not stupid.

DIAMOND (voice-over): Just down the road, Ora Hatan is enjoying her first peaceful day in more than a year.

ORA HATAN, SHTULA RESIDENT: We wake up to the quiet morning. It's -- after one year, it's unusual.

DIAMOND (voice-over): She, too, is skeptical that the ceasefire will lead to a lasting peace, but she doesn't see an alternative.

HATAN: I spoke with the soldier. They tire us. They exhaust. Also, what another option that we have, to arrive to Beirut?

[02:05:12]

DIAMOND (voice-over): On the Lebanese side of the border, many civilians were quick to return to Southern Lebanon.

Yes, thank God. I'm happy, of course. We're going back to our hometown, to our land.

The Lebanese military also headed south, expected to monitor Hezbollah activity as a fragile truce takes hold.

Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Shtula, Israel.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Meantime, after the Israel Hezbollah deal, the Biden administration says it will push for a cease fire in Gaza, but so far, there's no end in sight to the war there, and officials say Israeli air strikes are again targeting school sheltering displaced people.

The health ministry in the enclave says at least 10 people were killed Wednesday, when a strike targeted the al-Tabin school in the eastern part of Gaza City. It's the same compound where dozens were killed in August. The Israel Defense Forces says it was targeting a senior Hamas official.

There were also reports of another deadly Israeli attack on a school turned shelter on Tuesday. The head of Gaza's Civil Defense described the incident. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAED DAHSHAN, HEAD OF THE CIVIL DEFENSE IN GAZA (through translator): This school, which houses civilians was directly targeted. A number of martyrs have been transported, and civil defense teams are still, at this moment, carrying out evacuation and rescue operations for the injured at the site. They're working to move civilians away from the area and manage the ongoing situation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And in northern Gaza, the IDF says troops raided a school in Beit Lahia, where it says Hamas fighters had been operating. It says dozens of militants were apprehended and taken for further questioning. Hamas has condemned the attack.

The Jordanian air force has dropped critical aid into Gaza for the first time in months. It says military aircraft dropped nearly seven tons of basic food supplies into the Enclave on Tuesday. In a statement, the Jordanian air force says, so far, it has conducted 124 air drops, in addition to 266 air drops in cooperation with other countries.

Well, let's go live now to Doha Qatar, and Mehran Kamrava, professor of government at Georgetown University in Qatar. Appreciate you joining us.

MEHRAN KAMRAVA, PROFESSOR OF GOVERNMENT, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY IN QATAR: Thank you. Good to be here.

CHURCH: So, the cease fire between Israel and Hezbollah is still holding, with some residents in southern Lebanon returning to their homes. How likely is it that this cease fire deal could also offer a path, perhaps to peace for Gaza to end the war there and return hostages to their loved ones?

KAMRAVA: That's very difficult to tell, because in the past, it has appeared as if a cease fire was within reach in relation to Gaza, but we have had -- we've all become extremely hopeful, and then our hopes have been dashed. And of course, the suffering in Gaza continues.

So, I think it's very difficult to tell. I think a lot of it depends on Netanyahu's relationship with president-elect Trump between now and Inauguration Day, a lot of it would depend on American diplomatic maneuvering, on the pressures that the French and the Americans can place on Netanyahu and on whether or not the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah will hold.

So, there are too many variables to be able to reasonably predict what would happen in relation to a cease fire in Gaza.

CHURCH: So, how likely is a Gaza peace deal before president-elect Donald Trump takes office on January 20th, or do you sense that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is perhaps waiting until Trump takes office so that he can take the credit for a cease fire instead of President Biden? KAMRAVA: I think those are -- that's an excellent question, and there are two rather very distinct possibilities. One is that Netanyahu would wrap things up before Donald Trump takes office as kind of a gift that, look, you wanted no war and here is the -- our war is over, or he could wait until President Trump takes office and see how much he can push to -- push Israeli objectives further in Gaza.

It does appear, for the time being, that Netanyahu wants to ensure that northern Gaza, at least, is as depopulated as possible, and he is trying to pursue that to the extent possible prior to Inauguration Day in the U.S.

[02:10:13]

CHURCH: So, if Prime Minister Netanyahu is waiting for Donald Trump to take office, that would, of course, put the lives of the hostages and the civilians in Gaza in more danger for another couple of months. What are the risks involved in waiting if that is what's happening here?

KAMRAVA: The risks are tremendous. The suffering is unfathomable on everybody's part.

But what we have seen is a pattern by Netanyahu that he is primarily concerned about his own political longevity and what happens within the Israeli body politic, as far as he's concerned. Not necessarily about the hostages, the pressure from their -- whose families he can withstand. And of course, he hasn't shown any concern about civilian suffering in Gaza -- Palestinian suffering in Gaza.

So, I think Netanyahu is really basing his decisions on immediate political considerations as far as his own political survival is concerned, rather than on either the fate of the hostages or the suffering of Palestinians.

CHURCH: So, with President Joe Biden refocusing his attention on Gaza now, in the wake of this cease fire between Israel and Hezbollah, what form would that take if they can move this forward?

Because, as we've been discussing, there have been many failed attempts at trying to reach a deal between Hamas and Israel. It seems to be a completely different beast, doesn't it?

KAMRAVA: Absolutely, I think what we're going to see over the next couple of weeks, at least, is a much more concerted effort on the part of President Biden, personally and the administration in general, to ensure that the war in Gaza is not part of their legacy. And some sort of a cease fire, even a temporary one, if possible, is something that the administration can -- the Biden administration can claim to its credit before its time in office is up.

So, I think what we're likely to see is kind of this legacy driven effort to ensure some sort of cease fire in Gaza kick into high gear between now and Inauguration Day.

CHURCH: Mehran Kamrava, thank you so much for joining us from Doha. We appreciate it.

KAMRAVA: Thank you.

CHURCH: Russia is currently launching a massive attack on energy infrastructure across Ukraine. That is according to Ukraine's energy minister. Russia has repeatedly targeted Ukrainian power plants and other energy sites since the fighting began in 2022 and those strikes have picked up in recent months, threatening Ukraine's heat supply as winter approaches.

Now, this comes as Russia is gaining momentum on the battlefield against Ukraine. Fred Pleitgen has details now from Moscow.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Vladimir Putin's army advancing on nearly all front lines inside Ukraine, but also as they tried to expel Kyiv's troops from the Kursk Region in Russia.

We fought for this area for almost three months, this Russian Marine says, thanks to the assault groups of the 810th brigade, we knocked out these Ukrainian servicemen.

Moscow embolden, now flat out telling the Biden administration, face it, you lost.

The West should hear all this, rethink it, come to their senses and admit they lost. They failed to achieve the goals of containing Russia's development. They were unable to defeat Russia geopolitically, the Speaker of Russia's Senate says.

Moscow still fuming after the White House gave Kyiv the go ahead to use U.S. supplied longer distance weapons to strike targets deep inside Russia.

We understand the reaction of the embittered, frustrated Washington regime under the leadership of Biden, which lost the election, which did not receive support for its domestic and foreign policies from its own citizens, she says. We must understand that in agony, they are capable of continuing to take the most reckless steps.

The Russians claim they are not the ones escalating even after striking Ukraine with a new hypersonic, multiple warhead ballistic missile and now publishing these graphics saying that missile could also carry a 900 kilo ton nuclear warhead and reach NATO bases in Europe in a few minutes.

[02:15:05]

On Red Square, people telling us they want de-escalation, but support their leadership.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): We need to defend ourselves. Because if America and Europe and other countries will give Ukraine all the weapons and all the resources they have, how can we live there?

PLEITGEN (voice over): Of course, it's a dangerous time, this man says. You know, I won't display a second cheek if I was already slapped on the other, you have to fight for your righteousness and kindness.

Tonight, Putin arriving in Kazakhstan for a two day visit, also including a major security conference, greeted with full military honors as countries in the region increasingly see Russia growing more influential on the road to a possible victory in Ukraine.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Moscow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: U.S. president-elect Donald Trump has chosen A special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, retired Army Lieutenant General Keith Kellogg. And sources tells CNN that Kellogg already has ideas about what to do to end nearly three years of fighting in Ukraine.

Kellogg's plan would require Ukraine to participate in peace talks with Russia in exchange for continued U.S. military aid. It also calls for a, "formal U.S. policy to seek a cease fire and negotiated settlement of the Ukraine conflict." And it would put Ukraine's efforts to join NATO on hold.

Trump's future national security adviser Mike Waltz is said to be weighing that proposal, although with several others as well.

Still to come, Australia has been pushing to make social media off limits for anyone under 16. Why many Australians believe a blanket ban is the safest option for kids, back with that and more in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: The FBI is investigating bomb threats and swatting scares that targeted at least nine people tapped for key positions in the Trump administration. The latest is the president-elect's choice for Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, according to a source familiar with the matter. Others threatened include Lee Zeldin, Trump's pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, as well as would be CIA Director John Ratcliffe.

Swatting is a criminal hoax that involves falsely reporting a crime to get police to arrive at a certain location.

Well, now to two different takes on a phone call between Donald Trump and the Mexican president. On Wednesday, Trump claimed that she, "Agreed to stop migration through Mexico and into the U.S., effectively closing our southern border."

[02:20:05]

President Claudia Sheinbaum had posted online that migrant caravans would no longer arrive at the U.S. border because they're being addressed in Mexico.

In a later post, she firmly denied Trump's claims that the border itself is closing and reiterated, "Mexico's position is not to close borders, but to build bridges between governments and between peoples."

The phone call came after Trump threatened to slap a 25 percent tariff on all products from Mexico and Canada. He said the move was retaliation for the illegal immigrants, drugs and crime coming from Mexico into the U.S.

Well, meantime, Trump is promising to protect American made cars by imposing steep tariffs on imported vehicles, but that strategy is unlikely to protect U.S. consumers from sharp price hikes. CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: We have the big three U.S. automakers, but there's no such thing as an all American car. The cars that are made by Ford Stellantis and G.M. are made with foreign parts from Canada, Mexico and even China. And Trump says he's going to put a 25 percent tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico and an additional 10 percent on Chinese imports, and that will have a significant impact on the price of cars here in the U.S.

Now, cars made with foreign parts, but assembled in the U.S. include Tesla's Model 3, the Honda Ridgeline and the Ford F-150, which is the most popular car here in the U.S.

Cars assembled in Mexico that are coming over the border are the Chevy Blazer, the Honda HR-V, the Ram and Chevy Silverado.

Now, the reason why U.S. car companies make cars and parts in foreign countries like Mexico is to keep costs down. It's cheaper to make cars and parts there, labor is a lot cheaper, and currently there's free trade between the U.S., Mexico and Canada, something that President Trump helped negotiate under USMCA.

Now, the average car price in the U.S. in October was about $47,000 but with tariffs, that price will go a lot higher.

So, why can't we just keep the production in the U.S. to avoid these tariffs? Well, we don't currently have facilities for that, and wages for workers are a lot higher here. And the U.S. is currently trying to build 16 semiconductor plants, but that will take three to five years to build, those semiconductors can be used for cars.

But now, if prices of new cars end up going up, that will put pressure on the used car market, and those prices will go higher, and once again, inflation will kick in.

Vanessa Yurkevich, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE) CHURCH: The CEO of furniture giant IKEA, also warns tariffs are likely to push up prices. Jesper Brodin says tariffs don't support international companies or trade and end up costing customers more. He said neither the global economy nor IKEA have ever benefited from high tariffs. About 30 percent of IKEA's goods are made in China, one of the countries whose products would be targeted by Trump's tariffs.

We're waiting for confirmation that three Americans who spent years behind bars in China are finally back home. Their release was announced on Wednesday before they were put on a plane heading to a U.S. military base in San Antonio, Texas. Jennifer Hansler has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JENNIFER HANSLER, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT REPORTER: Three Americans who were detained in China for years are on their way back to the United States after a prisoner swap between Washington and Beijing. Kai Li, Mark Swidan and John Leung were exchanged for an unknown number of Chinese nationals in Wednesday's swap, that took place after years of quiet negotiations between the U.S. and Chinese.

At almost every meeting between the officials, be it Secretary of State Antony Blinken, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, or President Joe Biden, they brought up the need to bring the Americans home, and that finally came to pass on Wednesday.

Although the negotiations were done quietly, there were signals that things were beginning to move back in September when another American, David Lin, was quietly released from Chinese custody. The three Americans are expected to land in U.S. soil late on Wednesday night and be reunited with their loved ones. The son of one of the Americans, Kai Li, said in a statement that he was enthusiastically welcoming the news of his father's release. Harrison Li thanked the President the National Security Council and the State Department for their role in the effort in bringing his father home in time for the holidays.

He urged the Biden administration to use its remaining days to bring home other Americans who are detained abroad or held hostage.

Jennifer Hansler, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[02:25:04]

CHURCH: Australia is one step closer to banning social media for anyone under 16. The Senate is in session right now and is expected to debate a bill that would introduce that ban.

It easily passed in the lower house on Wednesday, but time is running out, because today is the last day of the parliamentary year. It's one of about 30 bills the Senate is hoping to bring to a vote. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says the ban is needed to protect children from harmful content online. Well, there's much more to come here on CNN, including the latest attempt by rapper and music producer Sean Diddy Combs to get out of jail ahead of his trial. We're back in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Welcome back everyone. The U.S. has announced new sanctions on more than 20 officials aligned with Venezuela's president in an effort to pressure Nicolas Maduro into accepting the results of July's disputed election.

U.S. officials believe the new sanctions will push Venezuelan officials to break ranks from the Maduro government and help move the country toward a democratic transition. This move comes one week after the U.S. formally recognized Venezuela's opposition leader as the country's president-elect.

The U.S. Secretary of State wrote on X, "Democracy demands respect for the will of the voters."

Well, back here in the United States, health experts are voicing concern over president-elect Donald Trump's controversial pick to lead the National Institutes of Health. Doctor Jay Bhattacharya has been picked for the role filled by Doctor Francis Collins during the Coronavirus pandemic.

CNN's Brian Todd details why some think his choices and philosophies about the pandemic are a red flag for how he would operate in the leadership role.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): President-elect Donald Trump says his choice to lead the National Institutes of Health will, "Restore the NIH to a gold standard of medical research."

But many medical experts say Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a Stanford trained physician and economist, could cause significant upheaval.

DR. JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: I think it's controversial, but also in keeping with the almost all of the president-elect's health picks to date.

TODD (voice over): The 56-year-old Bhattacharya became a lightning rod during the COVID pandemic for speaking out against mask and vaccine mandates.

DR. JAY BHATTACHARYA, PROFESSOR OF MEDICINE, STANFORD UNIVERSITY: You don't bully people. You tell people, go talk with your doctor, talk over the risks, and then make your own decision. That's the right way to do public health.

TODD (voice over): And he was a strong opponent of lockdowns during the height of the pandemic.

[02:30:00] BHATTACHARYA: The lockdown is devastating for the under 70. If you think about the lockdown harms, they're not just economic. They're medical, they're psychological.

TODD: Did he not have a point about the harm to mental health from the lockdowns?

REINER: Yeah, I think, he has a point that there were harms from lockdowns, but the people running the pandemic response had to play off the theoretical risks to social isolation from the then very known risk of mortality from this virus.

TODD (voice-over): One of Bhattacharya's most controversial moves came in October 2020 when he was one of the lead authors of an open letter called the "Great Barrington Declaration", stating that COVID prevention efforts should be targeted to older, more vulnerable people, and that the virus should be allowed to spread among younger, healthier people who were at lesser risk of death, to develop so- called herd immunity.

DR. PAUL OFFIT, DIRECTOR, VACCINE EDUCATION CENTER, CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF PHILADELPHIA: That's not the kind of virus you could ever eliminate by just letting everybody be naturally infected.

REINER: Estimates now are that, if the virus had been allowed to run unimpeded through the population, there would've been another one million to 2 million deaths in this country.

TODD (voice-over): But Bhattacharya has credible supporters, Dr. Ashish Jha, former White House COVID Response Coordinator under President Biden says, Bhattacharya is "Fundamentally a very smart, well-qualified person." Still, others are worried about the man tapped to be Bhattacharya's boss heading the Department of Health and Human Services, RFK Jr.

OFFIT: Dr. Bhattacharya may well soon be working for a man, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is a virulent anti-vaccine activist, a science denialist, someone who doesn't believe HIV causes AIDS, and a conspiracy theorist. I think I would like to feel better about Dr. Bhattacharya that he would stand up to that, and I'm not so sure that's true.

TODD: Dr. Jonathan Reiner calls the NIH one of the world's crown jewels of medical research, and he worries that with Dr. Bhattacharya and Robert Kennedy Jr. overseeing the agency, some of the most talented doctors and scientists there will want to leave. Kennedy has already talked about replacing about 600 officials at NIH with handpicked staff.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Sean "Diddy" Combs will remain in jail after a judge rejected a third request to release the rapper and music producer before trial. The judge said there was no way to "reasonably assure the safety of the community." Combs is charged with sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy. Federal prosecutors argued Combs has been tampering with witnesses even while in federal custody. His trial gets underway on May 5th.

The United States is starting to reintroduce nuclear power as an alternative to fossil fuels. But misconceptions about the dangers of nuclear waste and potential meltdowns have stalled any type of progress in recent years. CNN's Bill Weir visited a decommissioned nuclear power plant in New York to ask an expert about the most common fears and what the country is doing with its nuclear waste.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With humanity thirsty for clean energy, nuclear is having a green renaissance.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Get the Palisades Nuclear Plant back up and running.

(APPLAUSE)

WEIR (voice-over): Even among Democrats, in Michigan, Governor Gretchen Whitmer is using $1.5 billion in IRA funds to reopen the Palisades Nuclear Plant, saying it's the only way to meet state climate goals.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Chaos and confusion reigned as monitors tried to determine exactly how much radiation was released.

WEIR (voice-over): And 50 years after America's most notorious nuclear accident, Microsoft is planning to reopen Three Mile Island to power the demand for AI computing. There is no conclusive proof that accident made anyone sick.

Unidentified male: We have a serious condition.

WEIR (voice-over): But films like "The China Syndrome" and "Silkwood" help make a Cold War culture even more wary of meltdowns, that never came. But spent nuclear fuel has been piling up at dozens of sites around the country, radioactive waste with no clear destination.

WEIR: What do you think are the biggest misconceptions about nuclear energy in the general public in the United States, especially?

BRIAN VANGOR, DRY CAST SUPERVISOR AT INDIAN POINT, HOLTEC INTERNATIONAL: Well, that it can blow up. It can't blow up. When the plant was running, it couldn't blow up.

WEIR (voice-over): Brian Vangor spent his career at Indian Point before New York Democrats like Andrew Cuomo and RFK Jr. helped shut it down. Safety, he insists, was never an issue.

VANGOR: So a 25 milligram is a typical, maybe one or two chest x- rays, and you'd have to stand at the plant fence 24x7 for an entire year to receive that radiation. Each one of these canisters weighs 360,000 pounds. They're designed for floods, earthquakes, fires, explosion, aircraft impact, you name it, they can withstand it.

WEIR (voice-over): Data shows that when measuring deaths from accidents and pollution, coal, oil and gas are the most dangerous power sources by far, while nuclear ranks with wind and solar among the safest.

[02:35:00]

But uranium mining can still have a steep environmental cost and the waste remains radioactive for centuries.

WEIR: One pellet of enriched uranium holds as much power as one ton of coal. So, these 127 canisters hold all the pellets that produced 50 years worth of electricity for a big chunk of New York City, hell of a legacy. But now, they got to figure out what to do with this.

WEIR (voice-over): In 2010, Harry Reid and Nevada Democrats killed a plan to bury the nation's nuclear waste under Yucca Mountain and with no new plan, it has been piling up at dozens of sites around the country ever since.

PAUL MURRAY, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY: If we move it at 3,000 tons a year, which is a lot of fuel to be moving, it would take us approximately 50 years to meet the interim storage.

WEIR (voice-over): And that's just interim storage. A permanent site could take 250 years to fill and close. First, they have to build the world's safest train car to move it, and then they have to find a community to take it, likely in exchange for a fortune in taxpayer dollars. Nominations could start next year and could indicate whether the politics of nuclear energy is any less radioactive.

Bill Weir, CNN, Westchester County, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Still to come, just a few hours left until the start of the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York. And we'll tell you what to expect if you are attending the high-flying spectacle. Back with that and more in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Parts of Colorado will be celebrating the Thanksgiving holiday in the snow. In the Eastern states, a storm system will bring rain and snow, which means soggy parades and possible travel disruptions, especially in the northeast. Steady snow will last through Thursday evening in parts of New England where winter storm warnings are already in effect from New York State to Maine.

Well, nearly 80 million people will travel by plane, train, or automobile this Thanksgiving holiday. That is according to the American Automobile Association and the Federal Aviation Administration is warning there could be slowdowns in air traffic in the Northeast because of a shortage of air traffic controllers. More now from CNN's Pete Muntean in Washington. PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Things have been smooth here at Reagan National Airport, but air travel on Wednesday has not been smooth everywhere. A particular pain point is Newark Liberty International Airport. The FAA is short of air traffic controllers there. So the agency is purposefully delaying flights going into Newark. The average delay on Wednesday, about an hour and 35 minutes.

United Airlines sent out a memo saying that this is a significant disruption for the airline. Newark is a huge hub for United and it says that 343,000 of its passengers have been caught up in these air traffic control delays in the month of November alone; 46,000, this past Saturday.

[02:40:00]

Want you to listen now to FAA Chief Mike Whitaker. He says that the FAA has tried to blunt this problem by moving the facility responsible for Newark airspace from New York to Philadelphia. And he says these slowdowns are necessary, but only temporary.

MICHAEL WHITAKER, FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION ADMINISTRATOR: We are working the traffic, the staffing issue as quickly as we can. We expected some disruption, which is why we're pushing so many controllers through the pipeline. We have never been able to get this kind of a pipeline for staffing Newark when it was in New York. And so, we're very optimistic we're going to get through this with minimal delays.

MUNTEAN: Relief cannot come soon enough for the millions flying during this Thanksgiving travel rush. The TSA screened about 2.7 million people at airports nationwide on Tuesday. It's expecting another 2.9 million people by the time Wednesday is said and done. Since the start of this week, about 8 million people have passed through security checkpoints at airports nationwide, and it is only the start.

Pete Muntean, CNN, Reagan National Airport.

CHURCH: The final touches are being put on the massive balloons and floats that will be featured in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. It's set to begin in just a few hours from now in New York, and both participants and spectators will have to endure the cold and rainy weather expected through the morning. New York Police say there are no credible threats to the parade's safety this year, but the NYPD will have an increased presence at the event with multiple teams along the route and in surrounding neighborhoods.

Well, a few Americans will be spending Thanksgiving very far from home on the International Space Station. Here's what's on their menu.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICK HAGUE, NASA ASTRONAUT: Brussels sprout, butternut squash, apples and spice.

SUNITA WILLIAMS, NASA ASTRONAUT: Smoked Turkey. HAGUE: And smoked turkey. It's going to be delicious.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Certainly will and at least two of those astronauts were not expecting to spend Thanksgiving in space. Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore have been stranded at the ISS for months now after a technical issue on a Boeing Starliner spacecraft, kept them from flying home. But in the holiday greeting video, Wilmore tells his friends and family in the U.S. that one thing he's thankful for this year is zero gravity.

I want to thank you for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church. "World Sport" is coming up next. Then I'll be back in about 15 minutes with more "CNN Newsroom." Do stick around.

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