How Newsom’s bill to keep Diablo Canyon nuclear plant open was nearly derailed by one phrase sacbee.com

DOE moves to fund additional nuclear-coupled hydrogen projects utilitydive.com

PA Dept. of Health to give KI tablets to residents near nuclear power plants pahomepage.com

Southern plans to operate Hatch beyond 2050 world-nuclear-news.org

 

Ambient office = 106 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 93 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 92 nanosieverts per hour

Tomato from Central Market = 121 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 106 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 94 nanosieverts per hour

     A new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between NuScale Power and Fermi Energia has just been signed. NuScale will support Fermi Energia in evaluating the deployment of a NuScale small modular reactor (SMR) nuclear power plant in Estonia by 2023.
     In 2019, NuScale’s technology was one of those chosen in 2019 by Fermi for a feasibility study on the suitability of SMRs for Estonia’s electricity supply and climate goals beyond 2030. The new MoU covers further analysis and considers the deployment of a NuScale VOYGR plant.
      John Hopkins is the President and CEO of NuScale. He said, “Considering the geopolitics of today, this agreement builds upon the existing momentum and strong interest from the international community who are looking to NuScale’s SMR technology as the premier, flexible, and cost-competitive climate solution.”
     Kalev Kallemets is the Fermi Energia CEO and co-founder. He said, “The great advantage of the new generation of small modular reactors is clearly manifested in the case of Estonia. They fit better into the electricity grid, are more flexible and economical to operate, and meet stricter safety requirements than the existing nuclear plants. Before choosing the most suitable technology for Estonia, we will conduct a comprehensive analysis and evaluate which of the small reactors that will become market-ready in the near future best meets Estonia’s needs to produce CO2-free energy year-round, in any weather, at an affordable price.”
     NuScale’s VOYGR plant features the NuScale Power Module. This is a pressurized water reactor with all the components for steam generation and heat exchange incorporated into a single seventy-seven megawatt unit. It is the first SMR design to receive approval from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The first commercial deployment for a NuScale VOYGR power plant is expected to be as a six-module unit constructed for Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems’ Carbon Free Power Project. It will be built at a site at the Idaho National Laboratory in the U.S.
     Estonia currently generates most of its electricity from the combustion of shale oil. However, the Estonian government announced plans in early 2021 to reach carbon neutrality by 2050 and to stop producing shale oil in 2035. Fermi Energia was created by a group of Estonian energy and nuclear energy professionals to focus on the development and deployment of SMRs to enable the country to reach those goals. Since its founding in 2019, the company has conducted a series of research and preliminary works. They aim to start energy production by 2031. Fermi has selected GE Hitachi’s BWRX-300 as its reference technology. It is also analyzing several other SMR technologies such as Terrestrial Energy’s ISMR-400, Moltex SSR-W300 and Rolls-Royce’s UK SMR.
     The most recent in a twice-yearly survey series conducted in Estonia by Kanta Emor for Fermi was carried out earlier this month. The new survey showed the highest level of support for the building of an SMR since the survey began in 2019. Sixty nine percent of those polled are in support of such a project. Twenty percent said they were not in favor of a SMR and eleven percent were undecided.
     Manager Mihkel Loide is Fermi Energia’s Communications Manager. He said, “Compared to the results of the survey conducted in January of this year, the share of strong supporters has increased, while the share of people who have no opinion and are against has continued to decrease. People’s views on energy issues have been sharply affected this year by the painful increase in the price of energy carriers and issues related to ensuring security of supply, which are also reflected in the results of the survey.”

Construction starts on Russia’s next floating nuclear power plant world-nuclear-news.org

Fukushima town lifts evacuation order, allowing former residents to return 11 years after nuclear disaster cnn.com

Nuclear inspectors arrive at Zaporizhzhia power plant in Ukraine npr.org

John Bolton says Biden administration is making a ‘stunning mistake’ in pursuing Iran nuclear deal cnbc.com

Ambient office = 84 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 90 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 86 nanosieverts per hour

Sun melon from Central Market = 88 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 117 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 99 nanosieverts per hour

Armenia signs nuclear fuel contract with Russia’s TVEL neimagazine.com

Ukrainians flee town near to nuclear plant to escape ‘very scary’ clashes news.sky.com

Australian submariners to train onboard British nuclear-powered submarines under AUKUS deal abc.net.au

UN inspectors head to Ukraine nuclear plant in war zone apnews.com

 

 

 

 

Ambient office = 88 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 137 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 129 nanosieverts per hour

Sweet Green lettuce from Central Market = 108 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 145 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 137 nanosieverts per hour

Putin warned over chilling coup to seize control of nuclear weapons express.co.uk

Mexican nuclear cleared to run into 2050s world-nuclear-news.org

Belarus claims nuclear weapons mods are completed on its warplanes defensenews.com

Europe reconsiders nuclear power shutdown as Moscow cuts off gas pipelines foxnews.com

 

Ambient office = 109 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 123 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 122 nanosieverts per hour

Romaine lettuce from Central Market = 79 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 100 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 83 nanosieverts per hour

Dover Sole from Central = 122 nanosieverts per hour

Part 2 of 2 Parts (Please read Part 1 first)
      There twelve thousand seven hundred nuclear warheads in the world today. Nine thousand forty-four of these are in military stockpiles ready for possible use. Russia and the U.S. possess over ninety percent of the nuclear warheads in the world. China with three hundred and fifty warheads, India with one hundred and sixty warheads, and Pakistan with one hundred and twenty warheads have announced that they are expanding their stockpiles. The U.K has one hundred and eighty warheads, France has two hundred and ninety warheads and it is estimated that Israel has as many as four hundred warheads.
     The five permanent U.N. Security Council members are China, France, Russian Federation, United Kingdom and the United States. Despite agreeing in 2021 that “nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought,” all five are increasing and/or modernizing their nuclear weapons arsenals. Nuclear weapons have become much smaller, more accurate, and far more powerful than the ones that the U.S. used seventy seven years ago on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to force Japan to surrender in World War II. Although they were much less powerful than today’s nuclear warheads, the ones that the U.S. dropped on Japan killed over two hundred thousand Japanese civilians, most of whom were women and children.
      The nuclear weapons of today can destroy a major city within minutes. It really does not matter who attacks whom. A full scales nuclear war will probably cool the whole world by at least thirteen degrees Fahrenheit and bring about a new ice age. Within the first hour of a nuclear war, over one hundred million people will be killed. As the geopolitical tensions rise, the world cannot continue to ignore or downplay the threat of a major nuclear war.
     On the 6th of August, the U.N. Secretary-General was in Hiroshima to mark the seventy seventh anniversary of the atomic bombing. During his speech, he begged the world: “We must keep the horrors of Hiroshima in view at all times, recognizing there is only one solution to the nuclear threat: not to have nuclear weapons at all.”
      On January 22nd, 2021, the Treaty of the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), more commonly known as the Nuclear Ban Treaty, came into force after fifty one countries ratified the treaty. The treaty bans the use, threat of use, development, testing, production, manufacturing, acquisition, possession, or stockpiling of nuclear weapons. The treaty also makes it illegal to assist, encourage or induce anyone to do so.
     The number of countries which are parties to the treaty has already increase to sixty-six. However, the countries which possess nuclear weapons or are suspected of having that ambition have not joined the treaty. The Nuclear Ban Treaty may strengthen the taboo against nuclear weapons, but it is just a beginning.
     The international norms, values, and principles have become extremely vulnerable in recent years. The threats to use nuclear warheads and nuclear power plants as weapons of war have become quite common. The Nuclear Test Ban Treaty does not provide much assurance for the world to feel safe and secure from a looming nuclear disaster.