Instructions

Your responses are due on the Friday of finals week, that is December 14^th 2011, by noon. Email submissions are the easiest (ian@physics.csustan.edu). If your email document contains symbols (such as ²³⁵U) please send your document as an attachment to your email. Alternatively, I will also accept hard copy submissions brought to the Physics Department Office (N 164).

Preliminaries

During the first class of the semester I distributed a pretest on nuclear physics. (A copy of that is part of this assignment, as a separate document). First take the pretest again, answering the questions as best you can with the knowledge that you have now. (Note: don't expect to be able to answer every question, some have not yet been covered in class.) You should then review that pretest, and make a note of the differences between the answers you gave then and the answers you give now.

Assignment

Read the following articles related to nuclear power, and then select one to write about

New York Times - U.S. Supports New Nuclear Reactors in Georgia

France24 - Obama announces first new nuclear power plant in US for 30 years

City Journal - Why the U.S. Needs More Nuclear Power

BBC - Nuclear power: Eight sites identified for future plants

Write a reflective essay (2-3 pp) on the differences between how you would have reacted to your chosen article in July (that is, before classes started) and how you react to it now.

Guidance

This assignment is about your ability to understand the article, not a question of whether your opinion on the viability of nuclear power has changed (although you might want to incorporate that issue into your essay). Also, your current position on the issue is immaterial, whether you changed it or not. You can be for nuclear power or against it, or you can keep your own opinions out. Finally, remember Scott's instructions on writing a quality essay.