I think this is by far the weirdest, most disturbing, most fascinating "nuclear news" story currently unfolding... Stuxnet is the computer "worm" believed to be designed for targeted attacks against Iranian nuclear facilities. Today there were new hints that Israel really was primarily responsible for the worm, in a video created to celebrate the retirement of high-level Israeli defense official, which mentioned the worm. Israel has not made any official statements about the worm. However, they have previously undertaken targeted conventional attacks against nuclear facilities in neighboring countries (notably Syria in 2007).
Telegraph article on the video
Security analysts have been studying the worm after the fact to figure out how it worked and what it did. In the mean time, several news organizations are reporting that "hacktivists" under the collective name Anonymous have obtained and released "decompiled" versions of the Stuxnet code. It doesn't sound from the news stories as if their version is particularly dangerous, but the whole issue of targeted cyberattacks as a new form of war or subversion is pretty interesting...
A few articles:
BBC article on Symantec's analysis of the Stuxnet worm
Switched tech blog article on Anonymous obtaining the worm
Fox News article on the Anonymous release
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Local Energy Issues: Chicago Clean Energy Coalition
You may have noticed signs around campus about a public hearing yesterday on a proposed "Clean Power Ordinance" for Chicago. The issue concerns two coal-burning power plants in densely populated neighborhoods of Chicago. The proposed ordinance would apply stringent limits on certain types of pollutants from those plants, possibly requiring them to switch to burning natural gas, or to close entirely. As we're talking about the issues surrounding nuclear power plants, it's important to remember the issues surrounding the alternatives, such as coal! This is a very interesting current case study in public energy issues and the risks associated with our electricity.
Here's a news story about the issue:
Below is an image from progressive website Progress Illinois showing activists at yesterday's "ad hoc" public hearing. Their sign refers to a study claiming that 40 people in the city of Chicago die each year due to the pollutants from the two coal power plants in question. The group has been waiting for 10 months for a public hearing, hence claims that 30 people have died in that time period.
The company that owns the plants has worked with consultants to put out a press release reacting to the activists' claims, and you can read the press release here. The press release claims that the pollution from these two power plants represents about 1% of particulate pollution in the city. If that's true, then the number of deaths from these plants pales in comparison to the number of deaths from particulate pollution from transportation and other sources. They also specifically compare exposure to the pollution from these plants as being comparable to participating in a single one of the following activities (quoted from the article linked above):
* "About 15 minutes per week driving a car on an urban freeway
* About 20 minutes per week aboard a Chicago school bus
* Mowing the lawn twice a year
* About 15 minutes per week cooking with a gas stove or oven
* About half a day per year breathing air inside a home where someone smokes
* About 25 minutes per week burning candles in a home
* Two 20-minute visits per month to an indoor food court."
While this particular debate does not directly involve nuclear power, it is a classic example of the challenges involved in assessing risk from something like a power plant. Fascinating!
Here's a news story about the issue:
Below is an image from progressive website Progress Illinois showing activists at yesterday's "ad hoc" public hearing. Their sign refers to a study claiming that 40 people in the city of Chicago die each year due to the pollutants from the two coal power plants in question. The group has been waiting for 10 months for a public hearing, hence claims that 30 people have died in that time period.
The company that owns the plants has worked with consultants to put out a press release reacting to the activists' claims, and you can read the press release here. The press release claims that the pollution from these two power plants represents about 1% of particulate pollution in the city. If that's true, then the number of deaths from these plants pales in comparison to the number of deaths from particulate pollution from transportation and other sources. They also specifically compare exposure to the pollution from these plants as being comparable to participating in a single one of the following activities (quoted from the article linked above):
* "About 15 minutes per week driving a car on an urban freeway
* About 20 minutes per week aboard a Chicago school bus
* Mowing the lawn twice a year
* About 15 minutes per week cooking with a gas stove or oven
* About half a day per year breathing air inside a home where someone smokes
* About 25 minutes per week burning candles in a home
* Two 20-minute visits per month to an indoor food court."
While this particular debate does not directly involve nuclear power, it is a classic example of the challenges involved in assessing risk from something like a power plant. Fascinating!
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Breakdown of Korean Talks
After just a day, the talks between North and South Korea seem to have broken down. The North refuses to apologize for the death of civilians when a border island was shelled last fall. These talks were hoped to be a step towards higher-level, more substantive talks between the two nations. Other countries such as the U.S. and China would like to see the two Koreas make significant progress before beginning a new round of discussions about North Korea's nuclear program. It's not looking good!
Here's an article from the New York Times about the breakdown of talks.
Here's an article from the New York Times about the breakdown of talks.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Timeline of North Korea's Nuclear Program
South Korea and North Korea are in preliminary military talks today for the first time in months. Could this be the first step towards restarting the "six-party" talks over North Korea's nuclear program? Many hope so.
I came across a great short summary of the timeline of North Korea's nuclear program, by the Telegraph in the UK. It's an excellent way to come up to speed quickly! Here's the link.
I came across a great short summary of the timeline of North Korea's nuclear program, by the Telegraph in the UK. It's an excellent way to come up to speed quickly! Here's the link.
Why Snakes Have no Legs (Random 3-d X-ray Imaging Science)
Monday, January 31, 2011
Articles on Radiation for First Homework Assignment
Let's see what we can learn about radiation from some articles in the news. The first homework assignment concerns the following articles. Send me an email if you have any trouble accessing these!
1) BBC article on people who are missing out on radiation treatments for cancer
2) New York Times article on radiation from granite countertops (this is a bit old, but really interesting!)
3) LA Times article on radiation risk from flying
4) BBC article on France compensating nuclear test victims (also old, but a good intro to radiation risk issues)
5) World Health Organization fact sheet on cell phone radiation
Written homework questions are found on the portal page. Happy reading!
1) BBC article on people who are missing out on radiation treatments for cancer
2) New York Times article on radiation from granite countertops (this is a bit old, but really interesting!)
3) LA Times article on radiation risk from flying
4) BBC article on France compensating nuclear test victims (also old, but a good intro to radiation risk issues)
5) World Health Organization fact sheet on cell phone radiation
Written homework questions are found on the portal page. Happy reading!
Welcome to the Spring 2011 Unstable Nucleus class at SAIC!
Howdy everyone. In the first class this week (assuming we have one - your instructor is at home with a fever at the moment AND we're expecting a blizzard tomorrow) I'll be catching everyone up on a few of the active news stories we'll be following this semester. Almost all of the readings for this class will come from current news stories, so these topics are likely to come up week after week. We'll use our study of nuclear physics to become more informed readers of the nuclear news.
1) Iran! Iran's apparent nuclear ambitions have been a focus of world attention for the last couple of years. Iran has been steadily building capacity at its nuclear facilities, claiming that the work is all to support peaceful nuclear energy and medical purposes. Yet, the same facilities could be used to produce materials for nuclear weapons. The US has supported sanctions against Iran, but also in the last year an intriguing software worm called Stuxnet infiltrated Iranian nuclear facilities, causing havoc. Was this worm a tool of the US goverment and/or Israel to stall Iran's progress? Some recent news stories:
Reuters article on a British diplomat's claim that Iran could have a bomb in as little as a year
Opinion piece from a Fox News blog, critiquing the Obama administration's handling of Iran.
New York Times article on the Stuxnet worm
2) North Korea! North Korea has had nuclear weapons for a while, and this has created enormous tensions in the region. The goal of the rest of the world is to get them to agree to disarm, but are there any actual paths towards doing that? Are they actively increasing their nuclear weapons capacity?
Bloomberg article on a recently discovered secret nuclear facility in North Korea
Guardian article about South Korea pressing for new nuclear talks with North Korea
3) Obama's Nuclear Weapons agenda. You might have heard some of the news last fall about the New START treaty debates in Congress. Well, the treaty passed. Obama had relatively little to say about foreign policy in his recent State of the Union Address, but in the background he is pushing a fairly aggressive nuclear disarmament agenda. Here are a couple of updates:
New York Times article on the Russian ratification of New START
Critical analysis of the treaty from the Xinhua news agency (China)
4) Resurgence of Nuclear Power. Nuclear power (or nuclear energy) refers to electricity generated using nuclear reactions. There's been a renewed interest in nuclear power as an alternative to energy from fossil fuel sources. For the first time in decades, the US has authorized the production of new power plants. Obama counts nuclear power in his idea of "clean energy" when he calls for 80% of US energy to come from clean sources by 2035, as he did in the State of the Union Address.
Washington Post article about senate support for nuclear energy
5) Ongoing debate over Nuclear Waste.We may not have heard any major news stories lately about nuclear waste, but that doesn't mean the problem has gone away. Nuclear waste storage remains one of the big questions associated with nuclear technology.
Update on legal battles over the Yucca Mountain waste project
Finally, we'll also be talking about any news items that pop up that have to do with radiation, radioactivity, etc. But, those will be the subject of the first homework assignment, so I will post a few separately. Happy reading!
1) Iran! Iran's apparent nuclear ambitions have been a focus of world attention for the last couple of years. Iran has been steadily building capacity at its nuclear facilities, claiming that the work is all to support peaceful nuclear energy and medical purposes. Yet, the same facilities could be used to produce materials for nuclear weapons. The US has supported sanctions against Iran, but also in the last year an intriguing software worm called Stuxnet infiltrated Iranian nuclear facilities, causing havoc. Was this worm a tool of the US goverment and/or Israel to stall Iran's progress? Some recent news stories:
Reuters article on a British diplomat's claim that Iran could have a bomb in as little as a year
Opinion piece from a Fox News blog, critiquing the Obama administration's handling of Iran.
New York Times article on the Stuxnet worm
2) North Korea! North Korea has had nuclear weapons for a while, and this has created enormous tensions in the region. The goal of the rest of the world is to get them to agree to disarm, but are there any actual paths towards doing that? Are they actively increasing their nuclear weapons capacity?
Bloomberg article on a recently discovered secret nuclear facility in North Korea
Guardian article about South Korea pressing for new nuclear talks with North Korea
3) Obama's Nuclear Weapons agenda. You might have heard some of the news last fall about the New START treaty debates in Congress. Well, the treaty passed. Obama had relatively little to say about foreign policy in his recent State of the Union Address, but in the background he is pushing a fairly aggressive nuclear disarmament agenda. Here are a couple of updates:
New York Times article on the Russian ratification of New START
Critical analysis of the treaty from the Xinhua news agency (China)
4) Resurgence of Nuclear Power. Nuclear power (or nuclear energy) refers to electricity generated using nuclear reactions. There's been a renewed interest in nuclear power as an alternative to energy from fossil fuel sources. For the first time in decades, the US has authorized the production of new power plants. Obama counts nuclear power in his idea of "clean energy" when he calls for 80% of US energy to come from clean sources by 2035, as he did in the State of the Union Address.
Washington Post article about senate support for nuclear energy
5) Ongoing debate over Nuclear Waste.We may not have heard any major news stories lately about nuclear waste, but that doesn't mean the problem has gone away. Nuclear waste storage remains one of the big questions associated with nuclear technology.
Update on legal battles over the Yucca Mountain waste project
Finally, we'll also be talking about any news items that pop up that have to do with radiation, radioactivity, etc. But, those will be the subject of the first homework assignment, so I will post a few separately. Happy reading!
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