Ambient office = 52 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 70 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 73 nanosieverts per hour

Avocado from Central Market = 57 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 111 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 95 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient office = 55 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 116 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 110 nanosieverts per hour

Avocado from Central Market = 73 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 79 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 64 nanosieverts per hour

Dover Sole from Central = 108 nanosieverts per hour

     Zeno Power’s first full-scale radioisotope power systems will be fueled by strontium-90 (Sr-90). The fuel is recycled from a legacy radioisotope generator under a new public-private partnership with the US Department of Energy Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM). Zeno has also announced a partnership with Westinghouse to fabricate the heat sources for its systems.
     Radioisotope power systems (RPSs) use the heat from radioisotope decay to generate power. They can be used to supply clean energy for applications in off-grid environments. The use of Sr-90 in RPSs is not new. However, historical systems were heavy, which limited their applications. Zeno was established in 2018. It says that its key innovation is a novel design that increases the specific power of Sr-90 heat sources, enabling broad use of its RPSs in space and terrestrially.
     Zeno demonstrated its first Sr-90 heat source at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in October 2023. It aims to commercialize its technology by 2026. Zeno intends to use the Sr-90 from the legacy equipment to deliver on contracts with the US Department of Defense (DOD).
     The partnership with OREM will see Zeno use Sr-90 recovered from their Byproduct Utilization Program. The BUP-500 is a five hundred watt radioisotope thermal generator which was built in the mid-1980s at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The equipment was never deployed and has remained in storage at the Tennessee site since it was constructed. Before this new partnership, OREM had anticipated that it would remain in storage for another 30 years before it could be disposed of.
     OREM and environmental cleanup contractor United Cleanup Oak Ridge (UCOR) recently transported the BUP-500 generator from the Tennessee lab to a commercial nuclear facility for processing. The transfer will accelerate the demolition of the facility where it was previously stored. It will avoid the costs associated with disposal and significantly reduce liability at ORNL, OREM said.
Jay Mullis is an OREM Manager. He said, “This is a win-win scenario that’s removing a significant source of radioactivity at a savings to taxpayers, while also supporting nuclear innovation.
     Tyler Bernstein is a Zeno co-founder and CEO. He said, “This public-private partnership enables us to transform legacy radioactive material into clean energy, enabling future national security and scientific missions. We appreciate the commitment and support of so many officials from DOE, OREM, and UCOR who made this partnership a reality.”

Ambient office = 72 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 106 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 106 nanosieverts per hour

Redleaf lettuce from Central Market = 96 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 101 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 86 nanosieverts per hour

Part 2 of 2 Parts (Please read Part 1 first)
     In theory, the detonation of a nuclear weapon in space could provide the advantage of swiftly disabling a large part of the adversary’s satellites in one decisive blow. This is because the EMP that is produced as a side-effect of a nuclear detonation can permanently disable electrical and electronic equipment across a relatively vast area, especially if the nuclear device is detonated at high altitude.
     It is possible to harden satellites to withstand bombardment of charged particles released during high-altitude nuclear detonation. However, only a relatively small portion of military-grade satellites currently in orbit have undergone such hardening measures. The vast majority of commercial satellites in low Earth orbit are critical to economic activities. They incorporate standard electronics into their payloads that render them vulnerable to these kinds of attacks. This renders Western states vulnerable to these kinds of attacks.
     The second option is the deployment of a nuclear-powered ASAT weapon that utilizes lasers or particle beams to destroy its targets could. This could offer the same military benefits, while avoiding some of the associated risks. This approach might enable Russia to threaten larger constellations of micro-satellites, such as those that make up Elon Musk’s Starlink internet system. They would not generate excessive space debris and radiation and would avoid the potentially self-harming effects of a nuclear detonation.
     The Soviet Union and its Russian successor state are known to have worked on nuclear-powered “space tugs” that could theoretically be equipped with electronic warfare capabilities. These include electromagnetic energy weapons that might prove effective against satellites. However, it remains uncertain whether Russia has the money to invest in such technology after two years of high-intensity land-warfare in Ukraine and a sanction regime that continues to undermine its technological base.

     This implies that while Russia may potentially have the capability to deploy a space-based nuclear warhead in the not-so-distant future, deploying a sophisticated nuclear-propelled electromagnetic weapon system in space will be much more difficult to achieve.
     Regardless, if an active weapon system were to be deployed in space, it would represent a major escalation and a clear violation of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, to which Russia is a signatory.
     The revelation also highlights Russia’s continued willingness to disrupt and destabilize the political environment in pursuit of perceived advantages. With a space-based and potentially nuclear ASAT weapon, Moscow would have the option to release a devastating attack on NATO at any moment – a significant piece of leverage that could prevent the bloc from reacting decisively against a land-attack on an alliance member.
     That, however realistic, might be the threat Vladimir Putin hopes to hang over the heads of the West.

Ambient office = 72 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 106 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 106 nanosieverts per hour

Redleaf lettuce from Central Market = 96 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 101 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 86 nanosieverts per hour