Welcome to a new semester of The Unstable Nucleus!

It's Fall again, and time to restart this blog for a new session of The Unstable Nucleus.  It's been a big year for nuclear news!  Some of the news stories we will be talking about this semester: 

1) Iran!  This is the nuclear news story that never dies - is Iran on the verge of having nuclear weapons?  Or not?  How does the recent change in leadership in that country affect the situation?  What should the U.S. and the world do (if anything) to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons? 
Here's an article from the Washington Post about the current situation. 

2) Fukushima!  If you thought the nuclear crisis that unfolded after the 2011 Tsunami in Japan was over, think again.  The nuclear reactors that experienced meltdowns during that crisis are still in a very dangerous state, and are still leaking radioactive materials.  A recent leak of a significant amount of radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean caused international concern.  Read about it in this CNN article. 

3) Nuclear Waste in the U.S.!  We've got lots of it, and no real plan for what to do with it.  Debates have been re-opened about maybe using a site in Nevada called Yucca Mountain as a long-term storage facility for extremely radioactive nuclear waste.  But, the bigger issue is whether the U.S. administration can enact any workable plan for nuclear waste - besides just letting it sit in aging temporary storage locations all around the country.  Here's an update on the Yucca Mountain discussion from ABC News, as well as a recent opinion piece on nuclear waste policy from the L.A. Times. 

4) Closing Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant!  This may be a regional news story but it is an interesting situation to consider in this class.  Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant has caused a lot of controversy in the past.  It has had safety problems, and for a while was leaking small amounts of radioactive water into the environment.  After fighting for years to keep the plant open, the company that owns it has recently decided to shut it down for economic reasons.  What changed?  Why is the power plant no longer economically viable?  Here's an article about this from USA Today.


Have you seen any other interesting news stories about nuclear weapons, nuclear power, nuclear waste, or radiation?  Post them to talk about in class!  I look forward to a great semester of discussions about all of these issues and many more.