Ambient office = 100 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 139 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 140 nanosieverts per hour

Red bell pepper from Central Market = 112 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 77 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 57 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient office = 52 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 108 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 108 nanosieverts per hour

Crimini mushroom from Central Market = 91 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 103 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 87 nanosieverts per hour

Dover Sole from Central = 100 nanosieverts per hour

     There have been no reports of damage to the Akkuyu nuclear power plant after two big earthquakes struck Turkey. The project teams says that after safety checks, construction is continuing.
     Anastasia Zoteeva is the CEO of JSC Akkuyu Nuclear. She said last Monday, “Aftershocks of about 3.0 magnitude were felt here at the Akkuyu NPP site, but our specialists did not detect any damage to building structures, cranes, equipment,  Nevertheless, we are carrying out extensive diagnostic measures to make sure that construction and installation operations can continue safely.”
     Later on Monday, Russia’s Tass news agency reported an update issued by a spokesperson for Akkuyu Nuclear. The update said, “specialists conducted a prompt, operational inspection of all buildings, structures, tower cranes, scaffolding and other structures under construction for deviations and damage. No damage was found as a result of the inspection. Construction and installation work continues.”
     The International Atomic Energy Agency tweeted on Monday afternoon about the situation. The tweet read, “As of now, no impact from earthquakes on nuclear safety & security in Türkiye, its Nuclear Regulatory Authority told IAEA.” The tweet continued, adding that there were “no issues so far related to radiological safety & security of radioactive sources, & the country’s under construction nuclear power plant is unaffected”.
     The seven-point eight magnitude earthquake struck near the city of Gaziantep around 4:30 local time. It was the biggest earthquake to hit the country in eighty years. As of Monday at 16:00 GMT there were about two thousand three hundred deaths confirmed in Turkey and Syria. Many more were injured or are still missing. The Akkuyu nuclear power plant is being built in the southern Mersin province about two hundred sixty-seven to the west of the epicenter of the quake.
     The Akkuyu plant is the first nuclear power plant constructed in Turkey. The Russian state-owned Rosatom is building four VVER-1200 reactors. The contract is a build-own-operate (BOO) type. Construction of the first unit began in 2018. It is scheduled to go operational in 2023. The four thousand eight-hundred megawatt plant is intended to meet about ten percent of Turkey’s electricity needs.
     Nuclear reactors are designed to be able to survive natural hazards such as earthquakes. The Akkuyu plant has been designed with additional earthquake protection measures. These measures include the reactor building foundation slab being designed to be “highly earthquake-resistant”. Tass reported that the Akkuyu “project is designed to withstand a maximum earthquake of up to 9 on the Richter Scale”.
     The World Nuclear Association’s information paper on Nuclear Power Plants and Earthquakes said, “Reactors of both western and Soviet design have been subjected to major seismic activity in North America and Europe without damage. California’s power reactors, San Onofre 2 and 3 and Diablo Canyon 1 and 2, continued to operate normally during the 6.6 magnitude earthquake in January 1994. San Onofre, the closer station, was about 112 km from the epicenter. In December 1988, a magnitude 6.9 earthquake, resulting in the deaths of at least 25,000 people, occurred in northwestern Armenia. It was felt at the two-unit Armenian nuclear power station located approximately 75 km south of the epicenter, but both Soviet-designed PWRs operated normally, and no damage was reported. This was the first Russian nuclear power plant specifically adapted for seismic areas, and it started operating in 1976.”
     The report also said, “In April 2013 a magnitude 7.7 earthquake in Iran caused no damage [to the Bushehr plant] according to Iran’s report to IAEA, though some cracking of concrete was later reported. The plant is designed to withstand magnitude 8 quakes.”

Ambient office = 56 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 106 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 115 nanosieverts per hour

Grape from Central Market = 84 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 91 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 83 nanosieverts per hour

    The University of Florida (U of F) will head a new twenty five million dollars, sixteen university team of thirty one scientists and engineers. This team will work to develop new techniques and the training of future specialists in nuclear forensics. This discipline identifies and tracks of nuclear materials to support global safety.
    This project is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). It aims to prepare one hundred and thirty five undergraduate, master’s and doctoral students to help federal laboratories across the U.S. address current and future needs of nuclear forensics. In addition, they will work to help replace an aging workforce.
Professor Jim Baciak is the project leader and a professor in the Nuclear Engineering Program in U of F’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering. He said, “I am honored that our team was entrusted by the NNSA to develop the next generation of leaders for the Department of Energy national laboratories. Our team represents a diverse array of technical areas that are required for robust nuclear forensics, including analytical chemistry, radiochemistry, environmental sciences, geochemistry, nuclear engineering, physics, statistical analyses, machine learning and optical sciences.”
    University of Florida materials science and engineering department will contribute Assel Aitkaliyeva, Kyle Hartig, Juan Nino and Nathalie Wall to Baciak’s new team. Ryan Houim from the U of F mechanical and aerospace engineering will also join the team. 
     Forrest Masters is the interim dean of UF’s Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering. “The consortium is a great recognition for our nuclear engineering program, our college and the university. This award represents a valuable opportunity to demonstrate our strong commitment to supporting research and workforce development oriented toward advancing national security.”
     The researchers and the students in the new team will focus on five technical areas.
      Professor Brian Powell of Clemson University will lead Rapid Turnaround Forensics to shorten chemical analysis techniques to twenty-four hours or less.
     Associate Professor Assel Aitkaliyeva of U of F will lead Advanced Analytical Methods to develop improved materials characterization and microscopy techniques.
     Associate Professor Nicole Martinez of Clemson will lead Ultrasensitive Measurements which will investigate methods in environmental sampling and instrumentation to look at low-level signals.
     Assistant Professor Amanda Johnsen of Penn State University will lead Signature Discovery to determine if new signals and measurements can lead to improved accuracy in determining material quantities.
     Assistant Professor Kyle Hartig of U of F will lead Prompt Effects and Measurements to understand signals given off following a nuclear detonation.
      Deputy Director and Associate Professor Camille Palmer of Oregon State University will assist in leadership of the consortium. The consortium will collaborate on research with staff scientists and engineers from seven DoE national laboratories. Each will bring their own unique expertise. The national laboratories included in the project are Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratory and Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL).
     Other universities in the consortium will include University of California – Berkeley, University of Central Florida, City University of New York, Clemson, George Washington University, Iowa State University, University of Michigan, University of Nevada – Las Vegas, North Carolina State University, University of Notre Dame, Oregon State University, Penn State, South Carolina State University, University of Tennessee, and Texas A&M University.

Ambient office = 74 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 97 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 90 nanosieverts per hour

Kalura lettuce from Central Market = 88 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 76 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 60 nanosieverts per hour