Iran, Obama's Loan Guarantees, and Tritium Leaks in Vermont

There's so much going on in the world that relates to this class, I hardly even know where to start (plus, my head is still reeling from the notion of wearing a dress patterned with a nuclear bomb explosion - cool post, Cat!).

A few news stories worth following:

Iran:
 L.A. Times article that gives the current status with the situation with Iran.  It sounds like they're boldly proclaiming that they're going to build more uranium enrichment facilities, and also enrich uranium to a higher degree than "allowed" by the international community.  It may take us a bit to unravel what all this means, but we'll start this week by discussing what "enrichment" is.

Obama's Nuclear Power Agenda:
Remember last week how we talked about Obama's state of the union address, and his intention to boost the U.S. Nuclear Energy program significantly?  Well, the first step towards building new nuclear power plants is to make sure that the companies can get financing.  Nuclear power is still viewed as pretty risky, so Obama is promising loan guarantees so that the nuclear power companies can get the financing they need.  Remember how we also discussed the potential political payoffs of Obama's nuclear agenda?  Here's a New York Times article about that. 

Tritium Leaking from a Nuclear Power Plant in Vermont:
 As the existing U.S. nuclear power plants age, leaks of radioactive water are likely to become more common.  It's pretty hard to control the spread of radioactivity that is carried in water.  Here's a transcript of a recent Vermont Public Radio piece on what's going on with just such a leak at the Yankee Nuclear Plant.  In class this week another think we'll cover is what tritium is exactly.