Yesterday we asked listeners: What do you want to know about the ongoing crisis in Japan? You gave us plenty to work with, and now we're going to have some of your best questions answered by our expert guest, David Biello, associate editor of environment and energy for Scientific American.

The situation at the Fukushima Power Plant in Japan continues to worsen. U.S. Media is reporting that water levels are dropping in more than one of the six reactors at the plant, leaving nuclear fuel rods exposed. The United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission has warned that Japanese regulators may be downplaying the risk of radiation levels at the plant; and the commission has advised that Americans evacuate the area within 30 miles of Fukushima.

Since the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki the world has associated radiation with fear and horrible repercussions. That fear seemed somewhat justified during the cold war, and then after the Chernobyl disaster and Three Mile Island. But it’s easy to forget that we’re surrounded by radiation every day; that it occurs naturally. Or that we undergo medical treatments to fight diseases like cancer with radiation. Is radiation as scary as we think?

There are 17 nuclear power plants in Germany, but at least seven of them will be shut down in the next three months. This comes at a time when there is increased apprehension following Japan's nuclear disaster and thousands of demonstrators in Germany rallied for the facilities to be shut down. That call was heeded by Chancellor Angela Merkel while the country reassesses its national energy strategy.
The shutdown will apply to 7 plants that went into operation before the end of 1980. The BBC's Steve Evans reports from Berlin.

A third explosion has rocked Japan's Fukushima Daiichi power plant, in what is being called the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. Residents living nearby have been evacuated and emergency workers were removed from the plant. With fears of radiation exposure and a full meltdown, workers are continuing to pump seawater on the reactors in an effort to continue the cooling process. 

Greg Jaczko, chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission briefed reporters at the White House on Tuesday, saying that a nuclear emergency like the one in Japan could not happen in the United States. “Based on the type of reactor design and the nature of the accident we see a very low likelihood, really a very low probability that there’s any possibility of harmful radiation levels in the United States or in Hawaii, or in any other U.S. territories," he said.

However, Washington is edge about what to do about our own nuclear power sources here in the U.S. Todd Zwillich, Washington correspondent for The Takeaway got reaction from the Capitol.

The world is witnessing first-hand the potential dangers of nuclear energy, as Japan faces the threat of a nuclear meltdown at several power plants, including the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, just 140 miles north of Tokyo. An explosion rocked the plant in the following Friday's earthquake. President Obama has been pushing nuclear energy as part of his new and clean energy policy, but the current events in Japan could be a setback. How will the disaster affect the industry?

Less than a week after Wikileaks revealed the level of nervousness amongst regional leaders about Iran's apparent aspirations for nuclear power, the country announced it had produced yellowcake uranium domestically. Just in the past hour, key talks between Iran and world powers on Teheran's disputed nuclear program ended in Geneva, where Iran's negotiator continued to tell world leaders that the country's nuclear ambitions were about power, not weapons. Hugh Sykes, reporter for our partner the BBC, joins us for reactions from the region to the recent news concerning Iran's nuclear developments. 

President Obama announced Tuesday that he approved a loan guarantee to underwrite construction of two new nuclear reactors in Georgia.  These would be the first new reactors built in the United States since the 1970s. Will this be the start of a new wave of nuclear energy in this country?

Hans Blix, former head of the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency), reacts to President Barack Obama's Nobel Peace Prize win.

The director of the U.N. nuclear agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, says that Iran has set a date for inspectors to visit that country's newly revealed uranium enrichment plant, outside the city of Qom. That news comes as a relief to some analysts.

But a leaked report by the agency says that Iran possesses the data to make a nuclear weapon. Is Iran finally playing ball with the U.N., or is it just telling them what it wants to hear? We ask David Sanger, chief Washington correspondent for The New York Times, for answers.

North Korea continues to raise the stakes in its game of nuclear poker, conducting a second nuclear test in as many days on Tuesday. Meanwhile, a South Korean newspaper has reported that U.S. spy satellites have detected signs that North Korea has started up its nuclear plant again. The international community has condemned Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions. But the only country with real clout over North Korea is China: the nation is North Korea’s neighbor and main trading partner. To find out China's take on the North Korea situation, The Takeaway talks to John Pomfret, author of Chinese Lessons: Five Classmates and the Story of the New China. He writes the blog Pomfret’s China on the Newsweek/Washington Post website.

To protest the United Nation Security Council's condemnation of its missile, er...satellite launch, North Korea has withdrawn from six-party talks over the nation's use of nuclear power. Pyongyang has also vowed to start up the nuclear weapons program, er...power plant, it was supposed to be dismantling. We turn now to the BBC's Jonathan Marcus for an overview of of North Korea's actions and the international response.

For more of The Takeaway's coverage of North Korea, click here.

The delicate strategic dance between the Obama administration and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad continues: The U.S. has offered to attend direct talks with Iran aimed at resolving an ongoing dispute over Iran's nuclear program. But why now? The answer may be more complex than you think. The Takeaway talks to Gary Sick, a senior research scholar at Columbia University. Also joining the conversation is Trita Parsi, author of Treacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Iran, Israel and the United States and President of the National Iranian American Council and President of the National Iranian American Council.


Here is CNN's report on opening lines of communications between the two countries: