The Obama administration’s 2011 budget includes a provision to triple the amount of money dedicated to nuclear power loan guarantees, to a total of 54 billion dollars. Some opponents fear that money for nuclear projects displaces resources that could go to renewable energy sources, like wind and solar. Host Jeff Young talks with Peter Bradford, a former member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, to sort out what the increase of money would mean for the future of nuclear power.

Patrick Dugan likes to go birding. But he doesn't have to use high tech smartphone apps to attract birds. All Dugan has to do is put his lips together and blow. Producer and naturalist Laurie Sanders has a profile of Patrick Dugan, bird whistler extraordinaire.

President Obama's proposed budget for NASA puts the U.S. space agency on a new trajectory. It boosts federal spending for the commercialization of space but scrubs the Constellation Mission to return people to the moon. Host Jeff Young speaks with former NASA engineer and editor of NASA watch dot com, Keith Cowing, about the new frontier for America's civilian space program.

The EPA has just released new requirements on the containment of coal ash. The agency promised to address the issue after a retention wall failed at the Kingston coal-fired power plant in Tennessee, spilling more than a billion gallons of arsenic and mercury laden slurry into the nearby river. But a ruling on the toxicity of coal ash is long overdue. In conversation with host Jeff Young, Thomas Adams of the American Coal Ash Association argues that a tough ruling would hinder the safe re-use of coal ash. But Wake Forest University Professor Dennis Lemly says EPA should designate coal ash a hazardous substance.

The Minnesota Twins are trying to keep their stadium as green as the outfield. Emily Guerin reports on this Major League effort to reduce their environmental impact.

What’s the most effective way to scare a black bear? Bear technicians in California have been trying a variety of techniques on "nuisance bears" to determine how to keep them from raiding picnic areas and campgrounds. Host Jeff Young spoke with biologist Rachel Mazur, author of a recent study about how to reduce unwanted human-bear interactions.

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The continuing saga of Cape Wind pits renewable power against an ancient culture. It could be the country’s first offshore wind project, offsetting millions of tons of greenhouse gases with clean energy. But Native Americans whose ancestors first settled the Cape and islands of Massachusetts say the windmills would threaten one of their most treasured spiritual rites—greeting the rising sun. Host Jeff Young visits the people of the rising sun and the man who wants to harness the wind.