Nuclear science has uses and applications that are relevant and crucial for world peace and sustainable development, so knowledge of its basic concepts and topics should constitute an integral part of civic scientific literacy. We have used two newspaper articles that deal with uses of nuclear science that are directly relevant to life, society, economy, and international politics. One article discusses a new thermonuclear reactor, and the second one is about depleted uranium and its danger for health. 189 first-year undergraduate physics and primary education Greek students were given one of the two articles each, and asked to answer a number of accompanying questions dealing with knowledge that is part of the Greek high school curriculum. The study was repeated with 272 first-year undergraduate physics, physics education, science education, and primary education Turkish students. Acceptable or partially acceptable answers were provided on average by around 20% of Greek and 11% of Turkish students, while a large proportion (on the average, around 50% of Greek and 27% of Turkish students) abstained from answering the questions. These findings are disappointing, but should be seen in the light of the limited or no coverage of the relevant learning material in the Greek and the Turkish high-school programs. Student conceptual difficulties, misconceptions and implications for research and high school curricula are discussed.