There is a close, seldom-mentioned connection between the stars and the problems occurring at the Fukushima Dai-ichi reactors in Japan. The connection involves the properties of the isotopes of the elements, the curve of nuclear binding energy, and the life cycles of stars. The energy contained in fossil fuels arrived on Earth on a beam of starlight, but the energy contained in reactor fuel and the energy responsible for earthquakes arrived on our planet with the ashes of the most violent events in the universe, supernova explosions.