Particles: Nuclear Power After Fukushima

A one-year anniversary special for broadcast March 11, 2012 examining the future of nuclear power after the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan.  Some scientists believe the accident was enough of a setback that there won’t be another single plant built in the U.S. for at least a decade.  But climate concerns are a factor -- 70% of carbon-free energy comes from nuclear, with more than 60 nuclear reactors under construction worldwide. What have we learned from Japan…and now what?  Among many stories, Alex Chadwick conducts a rare interview with a deputy director of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission about behind-the-scenes goings on in the U.S. during the early hours and days post-Fukushima.

Chadwick will also profile of Greg Hardy, a Los Angeles-based engineer who has spent much of his career examining the vulnerability of nuclear power plants to earthquakes. Throughout the show, Alex will provide a clear explanation of how nuclear energy works, why this is such a difficult technology to develop and manage, and what new nuclear tech is on the horizon.

Burn: An Energy Journal

Arts & Culture

WAMU 88.5

Art Beat With Lauren Landau, October 7

You can explore one calligrapher's modern take on Korean handwriting, or see two shows that require a little help from the audience.

Food

NPR

Fairfax Schools Pull All-Beef Burgers From Menu, Citing Complaints

Students in a Virginia school system are now eating hamburgers with additives in them, after officials heeded their complaints about the appearance and taste of all-beef burgers it had been serving. The burgers that are now being served include a reported 26 ingredients.

Politics

NPR

No End In Sight: Shutdown Showdown Enters Week Two

Hundreds of thousands of Defense Department civilian employees will go back to work on Monday, but many government operations remain suspended.

Technology

NPR

Wanted: A New Generation Of High-Tech Aviation Workers

Millions of U.S. factory jobs have been lost in the past decade. Now, in North Carolina, high school students are being encouraged to think about taking manufacturing jobs. But this isn't the furniture-making or textile labor of generations past — it's a new kind of highly technical work in aviation.