Ambient office = 93 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 84 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 82 nanosieverts per hour

Oyster mushroom from Central Market = 87 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 130 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 119 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient office = 119 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 70 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 73 nanosieverts per hour

Green onion from Central Market = 100 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 108 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 90 nanosieverts per hour

Dover Sole from Central = 98 nanosieverts per hour

     The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) and the US Department of Energy’s (DoE’s) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have just entered into a strategic research partnership. The purpose of the partnership is to better understand the performance and behavior of materials required for use in commercial fusion power plants.
     UKAEA said, “One of the major challenges in harnessing fusion energy is developing materials to cope in extreme environments,” UKAEA said. “This is because high energy neutrons and extreme temperatures can weaken or change the desirable mechanical, thermal, optical or electronic properties of materials, which can reduce the lifetime of fusion machines.”
     The five-year partnership has three million six hundred thousand dollars in funding. Materials will be irradiated using neutrons at the ORNL High Flux Isotope Reactor, a DOE Office of Science user facility, located in the U.S. This research will attempt to understand how certain materials  respond to irradiation over long periods. The ultimate purpose of this research is to increase the longevity of the materials tested.
     The material selected for testing under the partnership will primarily focus on the ‘breeder blanket’. This is a component used to provide the tritium fusion fuel to make fusion power plants self-sufficient.
     Post irradiation testing will include tensile and hardness property measurements. This will help illuminate both the effect and the extent of radiation-induced hardening and concurrent loss of ductility in these materials.
      Advanced microstructural analysis will also be carried out to understand the effects of neutron radiation on chemical segregation and precipitate stability. UKAEA said that these assessments are critical to provide assurance that these alloys will be sufficiently durable and reliable to support a fusion power plant throughout the expected lifetimes of each component.
     The partnership will also see staff from the U.S. and the U.K. visits their counterpart facilities to share industry skills. The project is part of the UK Fusion Materials Roadmap, which was launched by UKAEA in 2021. The aim is to deliver new neutron-resilient materials as well as irradiation and post-irradiation testing to provide design engineers with data to build future fusion power plants.
     Amanda Quadling is the UKAEA’s Director of Materials Research. She said, “The partnership will allow UKAEA access to ORNL’s archive of existing irradiated materials, which include binary iron-chromium alloys, advanced steels, silicon carbide composites and copper alloys Alongside this, UKAEA will also be placing entirely new materials into the ORNL High Flux Isotope Reactor, including new high-temperature steels developed by both UKAEA and wider UK industry, permeation barrier coatings and welded materials.”
      Mickey Wade is ORNL’s Fusion Energy Division director. He said, “This research collaboration will be a critical piece of the economics of a fusion device in the future, establishing which materials can last for long periods in the fusion environment. This is a great opportunity for ORNL and UKAEA to partner on a key area for fusion.”
     Last February, UKAEA announced that it had awarded contracts worth a total of three million, eight hundred thousand dollars to eighteen organization. The contracts are to focus on overcoming specific technical and physical challenges to make fusion energy a commercial reality. Feasibility studies will be funded from sixty million dollars to two hundred forty-four million dollars from the UKAEA’s Fusion Industry Program and awarded through the UK government platform Small Business Research Initiative. The selected projects aim to tackle specific challenges linked to the commercialization of fusion energy. These include novel fusion materials and manufacturing techniques as week as innovative heating and cooling systems.

Ambient office = 127 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 116 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 110 nanosieverts per hour

English cucumber from Central Market = 94 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 77 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 61 nanosieverts per hour

     Xcel Energy Inc. is a U.S. regulated electric utility and natural gas delivery company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, serving more than three million seven hundred thousand electric customers and two million natural gas customers across parts of eight states (Colorado, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas and New Mexico).
    Xcel owns and operates the Monticello nuclear power plant in Monticello, Minnesota. The site, which began operating in 1971, has a single nuclear reactor (boiling water reactor) of the General Electric BWR-3 design generating 613 megawatts,
     Xcel Energy has reported that about four hundred thousand gallons of water which contains radioactive tritium leaked from a water pipe running between two building at its Monticello facility. Xcel said it is monitoring groundwater from two dozen wells in the area.
     Tritium is a radioactive form of hydrogen with two neutrons in the nucleus. It is a byproduct of producing electricity at nuclear power plants, according to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA).
     Kirk Koudelka is a MPCA assistant commissioner for land and strategic initiatives. He said, “Our top priority is protecting residents and the environment, and the MPCA is working closely with other state agencies to oversee Xcel Energy’s monitoring data and cleanup activities. We are working to ensure this cleanup is concluded as thoroughly as possible with minimal or no risk to drinking water supplies.”
     When the leak was detected, the facility diverted water to an in-plant water treatment system to contain it and prevent additional water from leaving the plant. The MPCAS added that the leak has stopped. The contaminated water has not reached the Mississippi or contaminated drinking water sources.
      The MPCA said in a press release on Thursday that “There is no evidence at this time to indicate a risk to any drinking water wells in the vicinity of the plant.”
     Xcel Energy said that it completed a thorough inspection of all piping at the plant. It determined that no other areas of the facility are of concern. It will also be examining the pipe that leaked in the laboratory to determine why it happened.
     The contaminated water is contained in the grounds of the plant. It has not been detected beyond the facility or any local drinking water. Xcel is continuing to monitor groundwater from over two dozen wells on-site.
     An estimated twenty five percent of the leaked tritium water has been recovered. More of the water will be recovered over the course of next year. Xcel is considering options to store the recovered contaminated water. They are considering building above-ground storage tanks or a retention pool. Any new construction will be reviewed by the state agencies.
     Chris Clark is the President of Xcel Energy–Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota. He said in a statement, “We have taken comprehensive measures to address this situation on-site at the plant. While this leak does not pose a risk to the public or the environment, we take this very seriously and are working to safely address the situation.”
      The MPCA is monitoring Xcel’s process of cleaning up the leak in coordination with the Minnesota Department of Health, and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

Ambient office = 131 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 98 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 95 nanosieverts per hour

Corn from Central Market = 70 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 103 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 88 nanosieverts per hour