Geiger Counter Readings in Seattle, WA on July 14, 2013
Ambient office = .079 microsieverts per hour
Ambient outside = .126 microsieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain water = .138 microsieverts per hour
Banana from local grocery store = .137 microsieverts per hour
Tap water = .095 microsieverts per hour
Filtered water = .078 microsieverts per hour
Geiger Counter Readings in Seattle, WA on July 11, 2013
Ambient office = .065 microsieverts per hour
Ambient outside = .076 microsieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain water = .091 microsieverts per hour
Sliced white mushrooms from Costco = .163 microsieverts per hour
Tap water = .085 microsieverts per hour
Filtered water = .064 microsieverts per hour
Geiger Counter Readings in Seattle, WA on July 11, 2013
Ambient office = .101 microsieverts per hour
Ambient outside = .051 microsieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain water = .081 microsieverts per hour
Vine ripened tomato from Costco = .103 microsieverts per hour
Tap water = .086 microsieverts per hour
Filtered water = .082 microsieverts per hour
The Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant near Plymouth, Massachusetts has been operating since 1972. During the forty years of operation, it has generated a great deal of nuclear waste in the form of spent fuel rods. The reactor at the plant is a GE Mark 1 model. This is exactly the same model of reactor in use at the Fukushima plant in Japan that suffered the disaster in March of 2011. In this model of reactor, the spent fuel pool is situated above the reactor.
Geiger Counter Readings in Seattle, WA on July 11, 2013
Ambient office = .133 microsieverts per hour
Ambient outside = .091 microsieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain water = .080 microsieverts per hour
Bell pepper from local grocery store = .146 microsieverts per hour
Tap water = .091 microsieverts per hour
Filtered water = .078 microsieverts per hour
Siting of nuclear power plants is always a complex issue. Placing the plant near the area where the electricity will be utilized has the benefit of less transmission losses and the drawback of often being in heavily populated areas. The plant has to be near a source of cooling water but that makes it prone to flooding in extreme weather and other disasters. The Russians have come up with a new solution to the problem of where to build nuclear plants.
