This week on NEED TO KNOW: Interview: Charles Armstrong; Legacy of Waste; The Fort Dix Five; Interview: Gary Shteyngart

NEED TO KNOW for Friday, December 3rd on PBS at 8:30 p.m. (check local listings). Episode #131. To find out about developing stories, visit www.pbs.org/needtoknow. NEED TO KNOW is a production of Creative News Group for WNET.ORG. Viewers can visit www.pbs.org/needtoknow for updates on these stories and more. Note: Stories are subject to change due to breaking news.

NEW - Jon Meacham talks with Charles Armstrong, the director of the Center for Korean Research at Columbia University, about how the recent flare-up between North and South Korea is testing the relative power of the U.S. and China in the region.

Legacy of Waste - As nuclear energy is touted as a necessary part of US energy policy, and plans are in the works to construct the first new nuclear power reactors in decades, there is still no resolution to the question, where do we store all the waste from those power plants? The Maine Yankee power plant, closed years ago, is just the starting point to a report on the high costs of indecision. (Originally aired September 24, 2010, #121)

The Fort Dix Five - In late December 2008, five men were sentenced to life for plotting to kill American soldiers at the Fort Dix Army base in New Jersey. The case became known as the "Fort Dix Five." Using the Fort Dix story as a case study, Need to Know explores the profiles of the individuals convicted, and examines the U.S. strategy post 9-11 for stopping and finding homegrown terrorists before they strike. The show also explores questions about the danger of what the authorities are calling preemptive prosecutions which often rely on "sketchy" informants. (Originally aired September 10, 2010, #119)

Interview: Gary Shteyngart - Jon Meacham speaks with Author Gary Shteyengart about his new book, "Super Sad True Love Story," a dystopian take on a future America where the U.S. has become an economic supplicant to China, the country is rapidly becoming a police state, and, the main character's penchant for reading books is seriously frowned upon. (Originally aired August 20, 2010, #116)