Montana nuclear power advisory council plan changed at ’11th hour’ heleair.com

Mar-a-Lago a magnet for spies, officials warn after nuclear file reportedly found theguardian.com

North Korea makes nuclear weapons policy ‘irreversible’ with new law – KCNA reuters.com

A nuclear power comeback in Germany? Dw.com

 

Ambient outside = 141 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 146 nanosieverts per hour

English cucumber from Central Market = 102 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 158 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 137 nanosieverts per hour

Pope: International law has been violated, nuclear risks worsened with war cahtolicnews.com

Trump wanted nuclear energy tested on the moon audacy.com

The world’s first nuclear-powered sub reopens to public navytimes.com

Benchmarking study sees uptick in US emissions world-nuclear-news.org

 

 

Ambient office = 94 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 149 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 139 nanosieverts per hour

Corn from Central Market = 93 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 156 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 122 nanosieverts per hour

Dover Sole from Central = 89 nanosieverts per hour

Part 4 of 4 Parts (Please read Parts 1,2 and 3 first)  
     The Washington state Department of Ecology helps oversee the Hanford cleanup. Its staff meet with the Yakama Nation at least once a month. They describe their relationship with the tribal Nation as a bit of “push and pull”.
     Laura Watson is the director of the Washington state Department of Ecology. She said, “We are the regulators, and sometimes Yakama Nation would like us to push a little harder than they perceive us doing. And so there’s a little bit of that push and pull. And that’s fine, that’s actually important as a regulator to have folks pushing.”
     A fully rehabilitated Hanford site likely will not happen within the lifetime of Yakama Nation’s elders, or even the generation that follows. However, they are working diligently to bring younger tribal members to the effort.
     Samantha Redheart coordinates Stem programs for ER/WM. In recent years, she has held coloring contests, a mass mailing of postcards and visited local schools. The ER/WM has offered college scholarships for students studying such subjects as engineering and sciences. The STEM outreach program hopes that those who receive scholarships may one day bring that knowledge back to the community. Redheart said, “We always share that Hanford is a multi-generational cleanup site. Yakama Nation leaders and management are always looking into not just the cleanup today, but for our future generations and of our children that are not yet born.”
      Twenty-two high school students were allowed to visit Hanford in 2016. This was a rare opportunity, according to Redheart, because those under sixteen are usually not allowed on most of the site. She said that they took the students to series of culturally significant sites, pointing out the traditional cultural artifacts and salmon spawning grounds. The experience was thoroughly regimented. It involved DoE staff, hasmat guides and strict timelines.
     If Sohappy got her wish, sharing her knowledge of Hanford before it was a nuclear site with the next generation would involve something like a trip back in time. She would take them on wagons and horses to each of the important sites. She would make sure to point out where the strawberry fields and old town once stood. It is difficult to know whether that will ever be a reality. Personally, she has not been to the Hanford site for over a decade. She said, “It angers me that I can’t go where my dad used to wander around. There’s nothing there that’s pleasurable. Not anymore anyway. It’s all torn up.”
(Editor’s note: I had just started my consulting business in the early 1980s when I got a call from a friend of mine. He had been consulting with the Yakama Nation on economic development. Russell Jim was just getting his new program going. The tribe needed a nuclear laboratory that they could contract to monitor the Hanford cleanup but finding one was not easy. I contacted Jim and told him that I would be glad to help. After a lot of research, I was able to find an RFP from the Washington state Department of Ecology for nuclear laboratories. I used it as a guide to craft a new RFP for the Yakama Nation which was accepted and used by the tribe to find their own nuclear consultant.)

Germany to keep two nuclear plants available as a backup and burn coal as it faces an energy crisis brought on by war and climate change cnbc.com

Material on foreign nation’s nuclear capabilities seized at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago washingtonpost.com

US Air Force to test launch nuclear missile Wednesday morning defense.com

Rolls-Royce and Škoda JS to collaborate on SMR deployment world-nuclear-news.org

 

 

 

Ambient office = 109 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 73 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 72 nanosieverts per hour

Blueberry from Central Market = 101 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 84 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 68 nanosieverts per hour

Part 3 of 4 Parts (Please read Parts 1 and 2 first)  
     Chemicals including mercury which can cause damage to the brain, kidneys and heart as well as PCBs, which can cause cancer, have been found in the Columbia River. These dangerous substances could be ingested by eating fish from the river. An advisory warning fishermen was released in 2017. The Hanford Reach is a one-hundred-and-fifty-mile section of the river that runs through Hanford. The advisory suggests limiting consuming some fish from the Columbia four or fewer times a month.
     In the past ten years, it has been discovered that hundreds of gallons of highly radioactive waste have been leaking from two Hanford tanks, threatening the Columbia River.
     McClure Tosch is a Natural Resource Injury Assessment lead for ER/WM. He recently said that the Yakama Nation has played a key role in the developing a plan for the EPA to monitor the Columbia basin, including fish tissue.
     ER/WM has also been advocating for the federal government to test the water wells at Hanford near the Columbia River for perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) which are long-lasting chemicals that can be found in an array of commercial and industrial products. If the tests do reveal PFAS pollution, that could be a huge concern for the local drinking water. The Washington Department of Energy said, “Information-gathering about the occurrence and use of PFAS at DoE sites is ongoing”.
     The Yakama Nation has also focused on preserving culturally significant plants. Recently, Sherwood has been supervising the protection of a bright yellow plant known as Umtanum desert buckwheat. This plant has long been known as a medicinal plant among the local Indigenous people. Today, Hanford is the only place in the world it is documented as growing.
     Despite the fact that the federal government is slow to act, the Yakama Nation has scored some important winds.
      Recently, the ER/WM succeeded in amending a cleanup proposal for an area next to the Columbia Rivcer that contains nuclear reactors. Their work is ensuring it will include a review of the impact of the pollution on aquatic insects. In the coming months, Tosch says that the Yakama Nation will work with the federal government to assess the effectiveness of a polyphosphate injection to sequester uranium found in Hanford’s ground water. The tribe has questioned the wisdom of this approach.
     ER/WM staff have also pushed back against a federal change in how high-level radioactive waste is classified. This could downgrade some of Hanford’s waste which would prevent it from being removed from the site as is currently expected. The DoE said they do not plan to proceed with this new interpretation without first consulting with the local Indigenous Nations.
     For their part, both the DoE and EPA said that their representatives meet with Yakama Nation regularly about Hanford. They have benefited from the tribe and other local Indigenous Nations’ expertise and input.
     Brian Stickney is the DoE deputy manager for the Hanford site said in a statement that while the Yakama Nation wants to see their lands returned to a pre-nuclear state, the DoE is focused on regulatory requirements and protecting treaty rights.
Please read Part 4 next

France to restart all nuclear reactors by winter amid energy crunch france24.com

Iran’s response to nuclear deal ‘not constructive,’ US State Department says cnn.com

What’s happening with Ukraine’s threatened nuclear plant abcnews.go.com

UN watchdog urges safety zone around Ukraine nuclear plant cbc.ca

Ambient office = 115 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 79 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 86 nanosieverts per hour

Avocado from Central Market = 62 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 97 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 87 nanosieverts per hour