Part 1 of 2 Parts
     Canada has developed plans for achieving net zero carbon emissions. The plan involves a host of strategies ranging from conservation efforts to the deployment of wind and sola energy technology.
      Canada is also exploring how small modular reactors (SMRs) could play a critical role in providing abundant energy as part of a low-carbon future. SMRs are a new class of nuclear reactors that are smaller in size and lower in power output than conventional nuclear power reactors.
     SMR are nuclear reactor that generate up to three hundred megawatts. They will be constructed in a factory and shipped to the operational site in modules for assembly. It is hoped that standardized components and quality control available in a factory setting will make them safer, more efficient and less expensive that the currently commercial nuclear power reactors which each generate a gigawatt of power or more.
     SMRs and other emerging approaches will result in spent nuclear fuel. Regardless of how much spent nuclear fuel is produced, it must be stored in isolation for a very long time.
     Canada has a plan to safely contain, and isolate Canada’s spent nuclear fuel. The plan includes the spent nuclear fuel that has already been generated by the existing fleet of CANDU reactors and all the spent fuel that will be produced in the future. This includes spent nuclear fuel generated from SMRs.
     In 2002, under their Nuclear Fuel Waste Act, the Canadian federal government tasked a non-profit organization, the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO), to engage with Canadians and Indigenous Peoples to devise a plan to safely contain and isolate Canada’s spent nuclear fuel. The NWMO is supposed to implement that plan to protect people and the environment for generations to come.
     Canada’s plan for safely managing and isolating spent nuclear fuel involves the construction a deep geological repository. The repository will be located more than sixteen hundred feet underground in a stable rock formation. The rock will provide long-term stability against the effects of climate change, earthquakes, glacial cycles and other further geological changes.
     A multiple barrier systems consisting of a series of engineered and natural barriers will safely contain and isolate spent nuclear fuel. International consensus indicates that deep geological repositories represent the safest approach for the long-term management of spent nuclear fuel.  Finland, Sweden, Switzerland, France and others are all working on a similar approach.
     Sara Dolatshahi is the director of strategic projects at the NWMO. She said, “Whether we’re talking about spent nuclear fuel that has been generated over the past half-century, produced by existing nuclear reactors, or new emerging fuel types that will be created in the future, it remains our responsibility and mandate to ensure used nuclear fuel is safely managed over the long term.”
     The site-selection process that will host the repository has been underway since 2010. It began with twenty two municipalities and Indigenous communities that expressed interest in learning more and exploring their potential to host the project.
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Ambient office = 59 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 96 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 98 nanosieverts per hour

Blueberry from Central Market = 71 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 86 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 65 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient office = 86 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 122 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 121 nanosieverts per hour

Avocado from Central Market = 124 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 145 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 132 nanosieverts per hour

Part 1 of 2 Parts
     The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is an intergovernmental organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy and to inhibit its use for any military purpose, including nuclear weapons. It was established in 1957 as an autonomous organization within the United Nations system; though governed by its own founding treaty, the organization reports to both the General Assembly and the Security Council of the United Nations, and is headquartered at the UN Office at Vienna, Austria.    
     The first experiments focused on nuclear fusion took place in the 1950s. Over the following decades, creating sustained nuclear fusion has been a great challenge for scientists and engineers. Currently, new discoveries are being made on an almost daily basis. The virtually limitless energy possible with controlled nuclear fusion should be unleashed in the near future.
      Over the decades of research on fusion a number of different basic designs have been developed and constructed. These designs include tokamaks, stellarators and laser-based implosion devices. They are advancing the promise of nuclear fusion for energy generation that will transform our world.
      There are currently over one hundred and thirty experimental public and private fusion devices in operation, in construction or planned around the globe. These are based on a number of different approaches to producing fusion reactions and have a variety of designs.
     In order to review this multitude of devices, the IAEA has just published a new report titled World Survey of Fusion Devices 2022. This new survey further elaborates the information currently available on the IAEA’s online database called Fusion Device Information system (FusDIS).
     Matteo Barbarino is an IAEA Nuclear Plasma Fusion Specialist. He said, “When it is realized, fusion would benefit every country and work alongside nuclear energy and other forms of sustainable energy, supporting climate change mitigation and contributing to the energy mix. Fusion could benefit virtually every country and that is one of the reasons why it is so important. All over the world, researchers and engineers are exploring different fusion device designs to move progress forward. And our new publication provides a comprehensive overview of fusion research and development activities from the perspective of those devices capabilities.”
     Nuclear fusion is a process in which light atomic nuclei combine to form the nucleus of a heavier element. A huge amount of energy is release by this process. The stars in the sky burn for billions of years powered by nuclear fusion. However, achieving sustained and controlled fusion reactions in a practical setting on the surface of the Earth is associated with a large number of scientific and technical challenges. To sustain such a reaction, the fuel must be confined and maintained at intense pressures and extremely high temperatures several times hotter than the center of the Sun.
     Considerable progress continues to be made in laboratories all over the world. More than thirty countries have carried out experiments with different fusion devices. The researchers often successfully achieve fusion reactions. However, they can only sustain operation for short periods of time. None of the experiments to date have been able to generate useful amounts of energy.
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Ambient office = 80 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 100 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 99 nanosieverts per hour

Asparagus from Central Market = 108 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 135 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 102 nanosieverts per hour