Class blog for "The Unstable Nucleus" at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Friday, December 14, 2012

Nuclear Bunnies

http://www.politicolnews.com/japan-nuclear-rabbit-born-with-no-ears/

Fun stuff about nuclear bunnies.

-Francis

(Hey i don't understand how to create a new post on this blog but i figured out how to edit someone elses...sorry Francis, hope you don't mind sharing. here's some old comic books explaining nuclear things with bright CMYK printing

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=comic-books-from-the-atomic-age

-Joe)

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Earthquake in Japan December 7

Japan earthquake and tsunami triggers Fukushima fears

(paragraph 8-9)

~Kaiya McCormick

Revisiting Chernobyl- PBS Video

Revisiting Chernobyl: A Nuclear Disaster Site of Epic Proportions

~Kaiya McCormick

Further Sanctions on Iran, Thursday December 13

US sanctions target uranium enrichment

~Kaiya McCormick

The article is no longer accessible via this link so I have copied and pasted it below

U.S Adds on to Iran Sanctions


WASHINGTON—The U.S. imposed new sanctions on Iran on Thursday as it sought to step up pressure on the country's nuclear program.
The U.S. Treasury Department targeted seven companies and five individuals with ties to Iran's uranium-enrichment program.
"So long as Iran continues to pursue a nuclear program in defiance of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions, the U.S. will target those involved in Iran's illicit enrichment activities," said the U.S. Treasury Department's undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, David Cohen.
The sanctions freeze assets under U.S. jurisdiction and prohibit any transactions. Foreign banks could be cut off from the U.S. financial system if they facilitate transactions for the sanctioned groups or individuals.
Write to Jeffrey Sparshott at jeffrey.sparshott@dowjones.com

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

http://www.militarytimes.com/news/2012/12/ap-georgia-details-nuclear-black-market-probes-120912/

The Nuclear Black Market...in Georgia (the Country, not the State...that would be even scarier) apparently exists

Not sure which aisle though!

-Anthony
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/south-korea-says-north-korea-has-fired-a-long-range-rocket-in-a-defiant-move/2012/12/11/66aa6d06-43f9-11e2-8c8f-fbebf7ccab4e_story.html

Apparently the N. Korean's launched an ICBM carrying a "weather satellite", and this time, as opposed to blowing up in a spectacular failing fashion, actually "worked" (According to the S. Koreans)

The rocket traveled over mainland Japan...so technically, had the N. Korean's wanted, there could have been a third big nuclear boom in Japan (if they have the warheads that is)

but besides that...the N. Korean's have proven they have mastered the technology to build an ICBM...that's not good!

-Anthony

Friday, November 30, 2012

Nuclear Energy Policy in Australia

One issue that I was really interested in was the nuclear energy policy in Australia. They have some of the largest reserves of Uranium in the world, but they do not utilize the resource for nuclear energy in the country. Out of curiosity, I asked my Australian friend about this debate. He said that most of the Uranium is located on the lands that belong to the indigenous Australians, the aborigines. Thus because of this a portion of the sales of this Uranium goes back to the aborigines. I also inquired if Australia used any nuclear medicine. He said that they did, but other than nuclear medicine, the citizens of the country were scared of nuclear energy. "Due to the political nature of the country, no official would be elected if they had any desire to enact policies that would utilize nuclear energy," said my Australian friend Andrew.

Out of curiosity I researched more into the Australian policies that deal with nuclear energy, and found several articles that discuss various aspects of this. The first article has to do with nuclear non-proliferation, trade and security in relation to the Australian policy on Uranium exports. http://www.dfat.gov.au/security/aus_uran_exp_policy.html

The second article that I found in relation to this has to do with the way that citizens feel about nuclear power. The main argument against nuclear energy is that Australia has many other energy sources that make the need for nuclear energy unnecessary. http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/labor-rejects-nuclear-power-in-australia-20100217-ocdu.html

Caroline Kircher

A chronology of weapons grade fissile material gone missing

Check it out, y'all
-Also Lauren

LA TImes article about the CTBT

U.S. Should Ratify the CTBT
-Lauren

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Finns figure it out

http://www.popularmechanics.com/_mobile/science/environment/waste/finlands-crazy-plan-to-make-nuclear-waste-disappear-8732655

Anthony

Nuke the moon

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mobileweb/2012/11/28/atomic-bomb-moon-secret-mission-nuke-cold-war_n_2199615.html

Who would want to nuke the moon? It's never attacked us....do we know something the moon doesn't? (Joking)

Anthony

Extra resources on nuclear weapons

Here are a few places to look for perspectives and information on nuclear weapons policy issues:


Against Nuclear Weapons:

1)  Global Zero:  an anti-nuclear weapons movement.  A set of links across the top of this page may be useful for researching anti-nuclear arguments.  Also, at the bottom of this page you can download a complete report proposing a new version of the U.S. "Nuclear Posture" that will help to achieve global zero.

2) Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists:  This is a long-standing anti-nuclear journal/website with lots of articles about different aspects of nuclear weapons topics from an anti-nuclear stance.  One useful example:  an opinion essay claiming the notion that nuclear weapons aid stability is false

3) Union of Concerned Scientists:  This group takes a moderate anti-nuclear weapons stance, arguing for arms reduction and stronger treaties.  There are many very useful policy papers and fact sheets here.  In some additional pages on the site, like this one, you can also get technical critiques of missile defense plans and other key topics that are under current debate.

For Nuclear Weapons:

There aren't really "pro-nuclear weapons" organizations out there the same way that there are anti-nuclear weapons groups.  However, here are a few specific opinion pieces that represent a pro-nuclear stance and may be useful starting points for understanding those perspectives.

1) A very recent opinion piece by three senators on Obama's budget for nuclear weapons "modernization," arguing that more money needs to be spent on this.

2) A policy backgrounder from the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think-tank, that lays out a role for a strong ongoing U.S. nuclear weapons program. 

3) Opinion pieces from the National Review on why nuclear disarmament is naive and why "global zero" is a bad idea.  You may also find more recent articles on this web site if you search for specific topics.

4) Time Magazine opinion essay on why nuclear weapons should get the nobel peace prize.

5) The case against the CTBT, again from the Heritage Foundation.


Finally, two documents that are important for understanding the current U.S. stance:

1) Text of President Obama's speech in Prague in 2009

2) The current U.S. Nuclear Posture Review:   Outlines U.S. nuclear policy - you can download the whole document from the website.  Also on the website you can find information about missile defense and other topics.




Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Chernobyl Reactor Structure

This is a video about a structure being built around the Chernobyl reactor.

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/20121128_06.html

Nick K.

Friday, November 16, 2012

Amazing images

A really awesome compendium of images of nuclear tests was compiled not too long ago by The Atlantic magazine.  Go here for the full set.

Monday, November 5, 2012

Readings for final quiz

Our last quiz is this week!  I'd like you to start becoming familiar with some of the most important treaties related to nuclear weapons, so these are a few resources for doing this.  Check the portal page for a study guide to highlight the most important details for the purposes of the quiz.


2) An article from the L.A. Times about the New START treaty ratified in 2010:
3) A fact sheet on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty:

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Japan Video

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/movie/feature201211022000.html

According to NHK World, water could be leaking into the Pacific Ocean that contains radioactive materials.  Also, forty years is about how long it is expected to decommission Fukushima Daiichi.


Nick K.

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Hurricane Sandy and Nuclear Reactors

As a followup to Rosa's post, here are a few articles on the impact of Hurricane Sandy on nuclear reactors on the East Coast.

USA Today article on the shutdown of three nuclear power plants due to the storm.  As this article explains, back-up systems worked as they were supposed to in each case. 

The nuclear industry claims this is proof that everything is working as it should, as described in this article from the EnergyBiz website. 

Some commentators have taken the opposite view:  that Hurricane Sandy showed us serious vulnerabilities.  Here's one example from the Washington Post.





(In other miscellaneous nuclear news, here's an interesting article about cheating on certification exams by nuclear weapons facility personnel, from the New York Times. )

Writing your paper at the last minute?

If you can't decide what to write about, try reprocessing!  An open current debate in the U.S. is whether or not we should reprocess (recycle) spent nuclear fuel.  Do you think we should?  Or not?

One long-time critic is a guy named Frank von Hippel, who has written a lot of articles about the subject (just google his name).  A particularly thorough piece is in Scientific American (you may need to be on the SAIC campus to access this - through the library - but it's a good article if this topic interests you).  Here's also a PBS Frontline piece with some interesting material.

Two groups campaigning against reprocessing are the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy and the Union of Concerned Scientists.   Here is one example of an editorial in a small-town newspapers that supports reprocessing, and here is a World Nuclear Society information piece.  An MIT study last year claims we don't need to reprocess for a long time because we have plenty of Uranium available.  Finally, here's a link to a blog from the Areva company, which does reprocessing in France and advocates for doing it in the U.S.  There are lots of interesting links there.

Oh... one more:  there's a debate about whether to use the word "recycling" for spent fuel reprocessing.  Interesting!

Happy Writing!

Monday, October 29, 2012

With hurricane SANDY news surrounding us and causing mayhem, can't help but think about if it hit a nuclear plant.  Did a quick google search... I guess we will find out more about the aftermath from Sandy in the says to come.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/energy/2012/10/121029-nuclear-plants-brace-for-hurricane-sandy/

(by Rosa)

Friday, October 26, 2012

Voting information

If you are registered in Cook County (Chicago), you can get a sample ballot for your district by going to this website: 
http://www.chicagoelections.com/voterinfo.php
And filling in your address and last name.  It can take a few clicks to get the address in the form the web page requests, but it is nice because you can see exactly what your ballot will look like.

Interested in learning more about the electricity referendum that is on the ballot? 
Here's an article from the Sun Times about it.
Here's an article from the Tribune about it.
Here's a link to the Citizen's Utility Board, which is trying to educate people about it.

Also, I mentioned a useful resource for researching judges:  www.voteforjudges.org

Carbon footprint graphic!

Ever want to know what the "carbon cost" is of a hamburger?  Wedding?  Roll of toilet paper?  This GE visualization tool has a bunch of thought-provoking stats on the contribution of different activities to our carbon footprints.


previous blog posts on Chernobyl...

Here are a few interesting things about Chernobyl:




Previous blog post on the 25th anniversary of Chernobyl - links to photo essays and an article on Chernobyl tourism.

A Vice Magazine tourism video on visiting Chernobyl (involving supposedly hunting radioactive bears) that a student brought in for a previous semester of this class.  Keep your skeptical hat on while watching this - a lot of the information is twisted for shock value.  However, it's an interesting video to critique.

Another photo essay of Pripyat

Monday, October 22, 2012

oh...

the last three posts are from me (Anthony)...sorry bout that!

The debates

They are certainly talking about Iran and nuclear tech tonight

Romney even talks about the amount of centrifuges Iran has "spinning" right now.

Also says Ahmedinejad should be tried for genecide, since calling for the complete destruction of Israel amounts to "verbal genecide"

as a bonus, my father in law has this image on a coffee mug...more relevant than ever?

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Iran agrees to bilateral talks with US...sort of

Iran will negotiate nuclear issues with US, after election

Http://nyti.ms/UkBp85

Putin and Russians testing nuke weapons tech

Putin and the Russians are testing long range missiles capable of delivering nuclear warheads....how come?

http://Mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE89JOEJ20121020?irpc=932



Friday, October 19, 2012

General Resources for First Paper

Here's a set of resources that might be useful for your first paper, which should be an opinion piece on some specific current topic related to nuclear energy or nuclear waste. These resources are good for background information, highlighting current debates, and getting source material for your arguments.


1) Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI): U.S. nuclear industry group. Website has lots of "fact sheets" and analysis of current issues from the pro-nuclear-energy standpoint.

 2) World Nuclear Association: global nuclear industry group. Website has tons of statistics on nuclear energy around the world, safety information, etc., all from the pro-nuclear-energy standpoint.

3) Greenpeace: Runs one of the largest worldwide campaigns against nuclear energy.  Has lots of fact sheets and news stories from an anti-nuclear standpoint.

4) Nuclear Energy Information Service:  an Illinois public watchdog group with an anti-nuclear stance.  Good place to find out what local nuclear issues are being discussed.

5) Union of Concerned Scientists:  a non-profit and non-partisan group that does not formally take a "pro" or "anti" stance towards nuclear energy, but highlights safety failures and problems with the current nuclear energy and nuclear waste practices in the U.S.

6) Nuclear Regulatory Commission:  main site of the government agency responsible for licensing and regulating nuclear energy facilities (basically, their job is to ensure safety). 

7) Presidential Blue Ribbon Commission on Nuclear Waste:  go here to find out what Obama's commission to review the nuclear waste problem recommended, and what the current status is of nuclear waste policy.

Watch for more upcoming posts highlighting some of the debates that are currently underway in the U.S. (but, you are welcome to research and write about policies in another country too!)

Penn and Teller pro-nuclear energy video

This was found by Edy, and it's an edited version of a very one-sided argument about nuclear energy that deals with a lot of the issues we have discussed in class:

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Posted by Compton Quashie.
I saw this movie the other day and this scene made me wonder if the shape of a nuclear bomb really does matter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmLh1sSFs8Y


Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Germany's switch to from nuclear power is proving to be much more costly than anticipated due to "rapid expansion" of renewable energy production.

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2012-10-16/german-employers-slam-cost-of-energy-switchover

- Emily

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

North Korea claims its missiles (potentially nuclear?) are capable of reaching the continental United States.
 

-Kimmie



Apparently clean limitless fusion power could arrive sooner than expected, by instead of lasers, using... magnets?

-Anne

Friday, October 5, 2012

Readings for Next Week

Here we go - head first into the debate over nuclear energy!  The main reading for this week is an article from a few years ago that gives an overview of both sides of the debate.  This is a pre-Fukushima survey, but the core issues have not really changed (and, I have posted this to this blog several times by now!)

1)  Pros and Cons of Nuclear Energy from a Wall Street Journal article by Michael Totty.  Notice as you are reading this that many of the "pro" arguments for nuclear energy are not actually phrased as inherent advantages of nuclear energy, but as answers to criticisms.  That still counts!

2) First few sections of the World Nuclear Society's overview on U.S. Nuclear Energy.  You don't need to read beyond where it starts talking about "consolidation."  The World Nuclear Society is a nuclear industry group, so you will see their bias in how they write about the history of U.S. nuclear power.  However, the first few sections of this summarize a few handy factual things to know about nuclear energy in the U.S.

Next week, I will start posting links to many more resources on this subject so we have a lot to discuss to evaluate what's good and bad about nuclear energy.  If you find things, post them!


those articles on the supposed spraying of cities with radioactive stuff..

... Alfredo sent this article, and I have absolutely no idea what to make of it. Do some further research and post!

http://rt.com/usa/news/us-radioactive-louis-martino-taylor-443/

I also found this long blog post with pictures and more info (not that I am sure whether to believe any of it yet...)

http://www.thetorontopost.net/2012/09/us-army-scientists-secretly-sprayed-st.html

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Arafat exhumation!

The disagreements over whether and how to exhume Arafat's body to do further testing for Polonium-210 seem to have been resolved.  Two independent groups will be allowed to take samples from the grave site, one working on behalf of Arafat's widow and the other working on behalf of the Palestinian Authority.  The dates of the exhumation and the subsequent lab examinations are being kept secret, but it sure will be interesting to find out the results!

Here's a Time Magazine article on this. 

Monday, October 1, 2012

Fusion suffers another blow...



National Ignition Facility Image


Remember how I said in class that "nuclear fusion technology always seems to be 10 years off"?  A government-funded project promising new progress into fusion research, called the National Ignition Facility, has struggled to deliver.  The New York Times ran a piece this week about their struggle to explain to Congress why it's worth continuing to fund the project.  Very interesting!

You can also read more about the facility itself at:
https://lasers.llnl.gov/about/missions/energy_for_the_future/
Art authentification through radioactive fallout

Wine dating through radioactivity

Because the detonation of nuclear bombs produced isotopes that either hadn't existed on earth before, or hadn't been as abundant, the presence of, or lack of these isotopes in some materials can be used to determine their age.  For example, wine and art.

-Anne

Friday, September 28, 2012


AS-C

Election Season!

Hey, you should vote.  You know you should!  We'll talk in class about what elections (national and local) might mean in terms of nuclear issues.  But here are a few resources to get us started:

1) list of the offices up for election this fall in Cook County Illinois.  Navigate from this page to get more basic info on voting in Chicago.  If you are voting elsewhere, it's a simple Google search to find your local government elections information. 

2) party platforms for the 2012 presidential election and past elections, hosted by UCSB.  This is a great place to review what the two major parties claim as their core values and policy ideas, and to look at how they have evolved over time.   Fascinating!

3) President Obama's campaign website (they are trying to get your email address when you click on this, but there is a way to navigate to the page without giving it - just look).  Under "Get the Facts" there is information about Obama's views on Energy policy and National Security, two areas of relevance for this class.  

4) Mitt Romney's campaign website (has the same issue - look for the link at the bottom of the page that lets you skip giving your email address).  If you navigate to the "all issues" page you can read Romney's position on topics such as what to do about Iran as well as on energy issues.


Checking in with the Iran situation

AP photo/Richard Drew
The image above is Israeli Prime Minister Netenyahu arguing to the U.N. that the world needs to draw a "red line" for Iran before they proceed to the final stages of making a bomb.  In his estimation, Iran is maybe 6 months or so from that point.  See this AP article for the details.  Also, there's a video version of this where you can see him drawing the red line in marker on his graphic, at this Washington Post site. 


Meanwhile, it seems that every week Iran claims there are new attempts to sabotage its nuclear program, by disrupting the electrical power grids that supply its uranium enrichment plants or, more recently, by packaging explosives in technical equipment shipped to those sites.  Here's a video from CNN about some of these claims, that also talks about some of the recent history.  While it's difficult to know if the latest claims are true, it is certainly true that assassinations and high-level cyberattacks aimed at the Iranian nuclear program have happened regularly over the last few years.


Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Japan Nuclear Plan

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/20/japan-nuclear-phase-out_n_1897452.html

This article says that the government of Japan did not fully commit to the plan to get rid of all nuclear reactors by 2040.  The Japanese public support getting rid of nuclear reactors by 2040, but businesses do not.

Nick K.

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Time Lapse Map of Every Nuclear Explosion Since 1945


"Japanese artist Isao Hashimoto's time-lapse map of 2053 nuclear explosions which have taken place between 1945 and 1998, beginning with the Manhattan Project's "Trinity" test near Los Alamos and concluding with Pakistan's nuclear tests in May of 1998, leaving out North Korea's two alleged nuclear tests in this past decade."
(text taken from YouTube Blurb)

-Kimmie

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Iran, Missile Defense, and Russia - sparks fly!



(graphic by Nicholas Blechman from the New York Times)

Earlier this week there was an extremely interesting editorial by Bill Keller in the New York Times called "Nuclear Mullahs."  It essentially argues that accepting a nuclear-armed Iran might be preferable to beginning another war to prevent it.  He claims that having nuclear weapons has actually historically made nations more cautious about engaging militarily with others rather than more bold, so perhaps a nuclear Iran would even be weirdly stabilizing.   So many interesting points are made in this opinion piece it will probably be assigned later in the semester, but read it now if you're curious!

The editors of the New York Observer reacted strongly to that New York Times piece with an editorial that claims that Iran is unlike other nations that may have acquired nuclear weapons in the past, and truly does have the intent to wipe Israel off the map.  Here's that piece. 

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is also furious with the Obama administration for failing to specify under what conditions the U.S. would consider attacking Iran.  He had some harsh words about this recently, which you can read about in this AP piece published by the Washington Post.

Meanwhile, a non-partisan expert report drafted for Congress this week pointed out that the U.S. does not have the technology currently in place to successfully defend against long-range missile threats from Iran.  Read about this in this USA Today piece.

And if that's not enough excitement for one week, candidate Mitt Romney's latest gaffe referring to Russia as our "biggest foe" also turns out to play into debates over nuclear missile defense... Read more on this ABC News blog.  

We'll touch on all these topics in class this week - lots to pay attention to in the news!

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Nuclear Inspections of Iran

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443696604577647860298054608.html

The U.N. Security Council is stating that Iran must allow inspections of its nuclear sites.  If Iran does not obeying the order, it would be a violation of a treaty, which could weaken its international relations.

Nick K.

Friday, September 7, 2012

Readings for next week - Ionizing Radiation Doses

For next week, there are just two short readings I'd like you to look at.  Both deal with describing "ionizing radiation" sources, and introduce the concept of a "radiation dose."  Both are also "propaganda" in the sense of being educational materials produced by the nuclear industry.  As you read them, do you see any places where the authors are trying to persuade you of anything?

1)  Radiation dose chart and information brochure from the American Nuclear Society

2) Ionizing Radiation brochure from the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization

Note that there are special units for measuring ionizing radiation doses, and that these two publications use different versions of them.  The ANS brochure uses "millirem" and the ANSTO brochure uses "microseiverts."  We will untangle these terms in class, but they are two units for measuring the same thing, much like how feet and meters are both units for length. 


how to buy nukes on the black market


Returning To Fukushima Area



According to World Nuclear News, Japan’s Reconstruction Agency stated that those who lived in parts of Fukushima may be allowed to return in two years, with jobs in decontamination. The article also states that the people of Naraha can return home during the day, but it does not explain why they can’t return home at night.  What makes this town safe in the day, but dangerous at night, if there is not much radioactive contamination?

Nick

Debunking the whole "cell phones and popcorn" thing

Well, OK... so, it's true that cell phones operate on microwaves...

And, it's true that microwaves (in microwave ovens) can internally heat up popcorn enough that it pops. 

However... it's not the case that you can use a set of cell phones to pop popcorn.  There seems to be a history of viral videos claiming to show this, and there is actually a claim that these were made or promoted by a company marketing cell-phone headsets.  I don't know?

Here are a few websites debunking this whole idea:

http://www.wired.com/underwire/2008/06/cellphones-cant/
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/16/cellphones-cant-really-pop-popcorn/
http://www.snopes.com/science/cookegg.asp

The last one also debunks a similar hoax involving cooking eggs. I'm not really sure what to make of this whole phenomenon... I guess people enjoy tricking other people with videos? 




Cell Phone Radiation//Popcorn




If nothing else, I think this is a pretty good visual.. although not completely sure how accurate the experiment is.



-Emily

Monday, September 3, 2012

http://xkcd.com/radiation/

Chart on the amounts of ionizing radiation a person can absorb from various sources.


http://www.terrapower.com/Technology/TravelingWaveReactor.aspx

Traveling Wave Reactor:  A reactor that uses the uranium waste from other reactors, and can go 50-60 years before needing to be refueled.


-Anne

Friday, August 31, 2012

Radiation in the News:  Readings for Next Week


This week's readings are a smattering of news articles about different sources of radiation around us.  We'll be talking about some of the issues these articles raise, but the homework assignment (handed out in class) also asks you to try to navigate the new vocabulary that shows up in these articles and make sense of the types of radiation being discussed.  This can be tricky!  Feel free to email me if you get stuck trying to understand something from the articles or the homework.

Articles:

1) New York Times article on granite counter tops

2) AP/Yahoo News article on contaminated fish

3) Two articles on cell phone radiation:
Chicago Tribune article on recent calls for review of cell phone radiation rules.
PCWorld article on the state of our understanding of cell phone radiation risks.

4) Two articles on airport x-ray body scanners:
Wired article on lingering questions about the safety of the scanners.
Time Magazine blog piece on whether doctors are willing to go through these scanners themselves.

5) ABC News article on radioactive polonium in cigarettes.


If you have any trouble accessing these articles, please email me.  Technical difficulties are not an excuse for skipping any of them!

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Welcome Fall 2012 Students in The Unstable Nucleus at SAIC!


This blog is an essential part of this course.  Usually I'll use it at least once a week to post required readings or to highlight weird or interesting things that I have come across.  But the main role of the blog is for you to contribute to the class with news items, commentary, and random nuclear and radiation web links you find.   See the syllabus for instructions on how to post. Many of the most interesting things we end up discussing in this class come from things students find on the internet.  Don't believe me?  Browse all the weird posts from the last few years!

This fall we'll be following a few ongoing news stories as well as watching for new ones that come up.  A few obvious ones:

1) It's election season!  What are the differences between Obama and Romney in terms of nuclear weapons policy?  Nuclear energy policy?  Are there local (Illinois) election races that will relate in any way to these topics?  We'll dig into this as the semester progresses.

2) Iran!  This is the "nuclear news" story that just never quits.  Is Iran making nuclear weapons?  Should we try to stop them?  Are current efforts to stop them doing anything?  What happens if they succeed? 
CNN article on findings from a U.N. report that Iran is enriching more uranium and may be hiding military nuclear facilities

3) Nuclear Waste!  The U.S. (still) has no plan in place for permanently storing all the nuclear waste that has accumulated from its nuclear reactors.  This is (still) causing all kinds of problems for existing and new nuclear facilities.  For example:
Reuters article (hosted by Huffington Post) on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's decision to halt permits for nuclear power plants until there's a plan for nuclear waste

4) Fukushima!  While it may not be in the top headlines everyday, there are still lots of unresolved issues surrounding the impact and response to the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan.  For example:
New York Times article on the economic issues associated with shutting down nuclear energy in Japan

5) Random Radiation News!  One of the weirder stories I'm wondering about - was Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat murdered through radiation poisoning 8 years ago?
Time Magazine article on the current state of investigation of this question