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NPR
Politics
North Korea's flag is seen on a TV screen during a South Korean news program in this file photo from Oct. 10, 2020.

North Korea Tests Short-Range Missile But White House Keeps Door Open To Talks

Mar 23, 2021
The Biden administration is in the final stages of reviewing its North Korea policy, and sees the recent test as on the "low end" of a "familiar menu of provocations."
NPR
National Security
The Doomsday Clock reads 100 seconds to midnight, a decision made by the <em>Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists</em> that was announced Thursday. The clock is intended to represent the danger of global catastrophe.

The End May Be Nearer: Doomsday Clock Moves Within 100 Seconds Of Midnight

Jan 23, 2020
The two-minute warning that had held over the past two years has now shrunk to 100 seconds before midnight on the Doomsday Clock set by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
NPR
Energy
A historical sign memorializes the March 28, 1979, partial meltdown at Three Mile Island nuclear power plant.

Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant Shuts Down

Sep 20, 2019
The plant is best known for the partial meltdown of one of its nuclear reactors in 1979. The remaining reactor stopped producing electricity on Friday. Decommissioning the site will take decades.
NPR
Middle East
U.S. Ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency Jackie Wolcott at a board of governors meeting in Vienna, Austria on Wednesday.

President Trump Warns Of New Sanctions On Iran After Breaches Of Nuclear Deal

Jul 10, 2019
Trump's warning came after the U.S. urged a special meeting of a United Nations nuclear watchdog which monitors Iran's compliance with the agreement.
NPR
Environment And Energy Collaborative
David Fein, senior vice president of State Governmental and Regulatory Affairs at Exelon, which owns Three Mile Island Unit 1.

As Nuclear Struggles, A New Generation Of Engineers Is Motivated By Climate Change

Jun 15, 2018
The number of people graduating with nuclear engineering degrees has more than tripled since 2001. Many say they are motivated by climate change.
NPR
The Two-Way
Secretary of Energy Rick Perry testifies during a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 12. Perry's proposed rule to benefit nuclear and coal power plants has been rejected by a federal regulatory commis

Federal Regulator Rejects Energy Department's Bid To Prop Up Coal, Nuclear

Jan 09, 2018
Energy Secretary Rick Perry proposed a rule that would essentially subsidize older fuel sources to compete with cheaper natural gas and renewables. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission cried foul.
NPR
National
Barb Graff, director of Seattle's Emergency Management Center, says telling people to run is not a plan.

Nuclear Strike Drills Faded Away In The 1980s. It May Be Time To Dust Them Off

Dec 19, 2017
Nuclear civil defense fell out of favor in the latter years of the Cold War. But, as North Korea builds its nuclear arsenal, local officials are reluctant to bring it back.
NPR
Parallels
A sign warns people not to enter the town of Ozersk, Chelyabinsk region, Russia, which houses the Mayak nuclear facility. In 1957, the nuclear reprocessing plant was the site of one of the world's worst nuclear accidents.

Russia's Nuclear Industry Tries To Dispel Fears Over Mysterious Radioactive Cloud

Dec 08, 2017
More than two months after a mysterious radioactive cloud was detected over Europe, Russia's nuclear industry denied that a nuclear reprocessing plant was the source of the plume of ruthenium-106.
NPR
The Two-Way
A map from French authorities suggests that the release came from the east, near the border of Russia and Kazakhstan.

Clues In That Mysterious Radioactive Cloud Point Toward Russia

Nov 17, 2017
Western scientists say they may never know the source of the cloud of ruthenium-106 that hovered over Europe last month. But what little data there is suggests a research facility inside Russia.
NPR
The Two-Way
A map from French authorities suggests that the release came from the east, near the border of Russia and Kazakhstan.

Mysterious Radioactive Cloud Over Europe Hints At Accident Farther East

Nov 10, 2017
Ruthenium-106, an artificial isotope, was detected in early October and is now gone. European safety officials say it poses no health risk to residents and that it might have come from Russia.
NPR
The Two-Way
Cooling towers at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Middletown, Pa., earlier this month.

Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant To Shut Down In 2019

May 30, 2017
The company that owns the Three Mile Island nuclear plant, site of the worst nuclear disaster in U.S. history, says the facility will be closed unless the state of Pennsylvania decides to bail it out.
NPR
Parallels
President Obama hugs Shigeaki Mori, an atomic bomb survivor and a creator of the memorial for American WWII POWs killed in Hiroshima, during a ceremony at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima on Friday. Obama became the first sitting U.S. president

A Survivor's Tale: How Hiroshima Shaped A Japanese-American Family

May 27, 2016
Kikue Takagi narrowly survived the atomic bomb that killed her classmates. Soon after she moved to California, where she worked for many years at Disneyland. Now in her 80s, she's back in Hiroshima.
NPR
The Two-Way
The Department of Defense Air Force Strategic Automated Command and Control System, as pictured in the Government Accountability Office report.

Report: U.S. Nuclear System Relies On Outdated Technology Such As Floppy Disks

May 26, 2016
The Government Accountability Office report also finds that the nuclear system is coordinated on a 1970s-era computer. The parts are so obsolete that it's difficult to find replacements.
NPR
The Two-Way
A South Korean army soldier walks by a TV screen in March showing North Korean leader Kim Jong Un with superimposed letters that read: "North Korea's nuclear warhead."

North Korea Says It Tested An Engine For An Intercontinental Ballistic Missile

Apr 09, 2016
It's not possible to verify the claim, which follows a series of weapons tests from the isolated nation. North Korea says this engine would boost its ability to launch a nuclear attack on the U.S.
NPR
The Two-Way
The Doomsday Clock stayed fixed at three minutes to midnight — the closest it has been to midnight since 1984.

Doomsday Clock Stays At 3 Minutes To Midnight

Jan 26, 2016
Despite the progress represented by the Iran nuclear deal, rising tensions between the U.S. and Russia, North Korea's nuclear tests and other conflicts mean the world is still close to catastrophe.
NPR
Parallels
Castle Romeo was an American hydrogen bomb test in March 1954 at Bikini Atoll in the Pacific. It was 11 megatons, or roughly 1,000 times more powerful than North Korea's test on Wednesday. North Korea says it was a hydrogen bomb test, though the White Ho

The U.S. Isn't Buying North Korea's Claim Of An H-Bomb Test

Jan 06, 2016
North Korea's says it detonated a powerful hydrogen bomb on Wednesday. But the White House says it doesn't believe the claim.
NPR
Parallels
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un waves during a parade in Pyongyang, North Korea, in October. The country said it carried a successful hydrogen bomb text on Wednesday morning, but many analysts are skeptical.

What We'd Still Like To Know About North Korea's Hydrogen Bomb Claim

Jan 06, 2016
Deciphering events in North Korea often resembles long-distance psychoanalysis more than reporting. The country's latest nuclear test is no exception.
KNPR
Newscast headlines

Radioactive Dump That Burned In Nevada Had Past Troubles

Oct 26, 2015

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Records show that a closed commercial radioactive waste dump that caught fire last weekend in southern Nevada had trouble over the years with leaky shipments and that oversight that was so lax that employees took contaminated tools and building materials home in

NPR
The Two-Way
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani addresses the 70th session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters on Sept. 28.

Iranian Parliament Votes To Approve Nuclear Deal

Oct 13, 2015

The bill must still be reviewed by a group of senior clerics, but President Hassan Rouhani's administration is hailing lawmakers' vote as a "historic decision."

NPR
The Two-Way
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi delivers a speech during the international seminar commemorating the 10th anniversary of the September 19 joint statement of six-party talks at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, China, on Saturday.

China Calls On North Korea To Halt Planned Space Launch, Nuclear Test

Sep 19, 2015
Beijing says "all parties" involved in the North Korean nuclear issue should refrain from actions that could increase tensions.
NPR
The Two-Way
President Obama listens to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during their March 22, 2013, visit to a Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem.

Benjamin Netanyahu To Visit The White House In November

Sep 16, 2015
The meeting signals a possible smoothing of relations between the heads of state after the Israeli prime minister's critical remarks about President Obama's plan to reach a nuclear deal with Iran.
NPR
The Two-Way
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, seen here in an undated picture released by the <em>Rodong Sinmun </em>newspaper, has said his country will never give up its nuclear weapons. In the photo, Kim was visiting a hydroelectric power plant.

North Korea Says Its Main Nuclear Reactor Is Operating Again

Sep 15, 2015
The restart of a reactor that produces weapons-grade plutonium was announced by the Korean Central News Agency, which also says North Korea is ready to use nuclear weapons "any time."
NPR
The Two-Way
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, flanked by Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz (left) and U.S. Under Secretary for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman met with Iranian negotiators Tuesday at a hotel in Vienna.

Deadline In Iran Nuclear Talks Extended To July 7

Jun 30, 2015
The negotiations in Vienna are aimed at limiting Iran's nuclear program in return for lifting economic sanctions imposed by the West.
KNPR

The Nuclear Memo

Jan 26, 2015
Christened with an atomic explosion nicknamed Able on Jan. 27, 1951, the Nevada Test Site was Uncle Sam’s garage for the nation’s nuclear testing...
KNPR
KNPR's State of Nevada

Atomic Tourism In Las Vegas

Mar 05, 2014

In the 1950s and early 60s, Nevadans welcomed the atomic testing once they saw the new flux of people moving to the valley – not to mention a new wave of tourists who came to see the blasts

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