The R Street Institute, a Washington D.C. based think-tank, recently issued a report titled "The Role of US Research and Development Policy in Nuclear Power" authored by George David Banks.
I have often blogged about the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear disaster in March of 2011. The current Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, has made nuclear power a major part of his economic development plan for Japan. Despite public opposition, he is working to restart the idled fleet of Japan's nuclear power reactors.
North Korea has been in the news recently with respect to the theft of electronic records from the Sony studios in Los Angeles, California. They have also been making the usual threats to annihilate the U.S. with a rain of nuclear warheads.
I have blogged a lot about the March 11, 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster. I have also posted hundreds of links to articles about the situation at Fukushima as well as the social, political, economic and public health repercussions.
Most naturally occurring uranium is U-238 which is mildly radioactive. When the tiny amount of highly-radioactive U-235 in uranium ore is extracted and concentrated to make uranium fuel and nuclear weapons, the U-238 that is left in the processed ore is called "depleted uranium." It is very dense and makes excellent projectiles for use in munitions.
I have often mentioned the longevity of nuclear waste. U-235, the isotope that provides power in many nuclear reactors has a half-life of about seven hundred million years. U-238 constitutes most of the naturally occurring uranium and it has a half-life of four billion years. The Pu-239, the isotope which is produced in nuclear reactors and used as fuel or in nuclear weapons, has a half life of over eighty thousand years.
