Ambient office = 109 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 112 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 114 nanosieverts per hour

Avocado from Central Market = 119 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 108 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 84 nanosieverts per hour

Part 1 of 2 Parts
     The Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) is a federal laboratory charged with research and development of nuclear weapons for the U.S. nuclear arsenal. It is located a short distance from Santa Fe, New Mexico. Radioactive waste resulting from the work at the LANL is placed in standard drums and shipped to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP).  
     The WIPP is an underground federal repository for transuranic nuclear waste generated by the development and manufacture of nuclear weapons. It is located near Carlsbad, New Mexico. The WIPP was opened in 1999. The WIPP has strict protocols for the permanent disposal of nuclear waste.
     A few years ago, a drum of waste from the LANL was improperly packed with the wrong absorbent and shipped to the WIPP. The materials in that drum underwent chemical reactions that generated so much heat that the drum burst. The air filtration system failed and radioactive particles spread for miles across the New Mexico countryside. This accident resulted in the repository being shut down for several years as air filtration systems were repaired.
     A drum of nuclear waste at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) started giving off sparks last month as it was being packed. This ultimately led to a temporary evacuation of part of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant’s underground repository as officials investigated whether any other drums of waste sent to the WIPP from the LANL posed a similar threat.
      Investigators later verified that no one was injured, and no radiation was released. This was reported in a March 12th letter from the LANL to the New Mexico Environmental Department (NMED) Hazardous Waste Bureau. The letter said that the LANL drum started sparking as workers packed it with low-level transuranic (TRU) waste on February 26th for delivery and disposal at WIPP.
     During the packing process, two high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters were placed in a drum to which a “metal waste item” was added, according to the letter from the LANL. When the metal item was inserted into the drum, it tore open the bag with the HEPA filters and sparks were observed coming out of the drum when the metal item touched the filters. Workers at the lab immediately set off the fire alarm and then left the work area.
     The LANL letter said, “Following immediate response and clearing of the scene by the Los Alamos Fire Department, the initial inspection revealed that there was no release of waste or radiological contamination outside of the glovebox. Visual observations showed no damage to the drum-out bag or gloves.”
     On March 1st, an investigation was undertaken at the LANL and it was discovered that the HEPA filters contained particles from titanium welding which were oxidized when the bag that contained the filters was torn open. This was the origin of the sparking. The NMED was first notified about the sparking incident three days later by the WIPP on March 4th after the LANL had notified the WIPP. The LANL made its first report of the incident to the NMED on March 9th. 
Please read Part 2 next

Ambient office = 118 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 105 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 101 nanosieverts per hour

Yam from Central Market = 120 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 107 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 80 nanosieverts per hour

     U.S. President Biden is making curbing climate change a priority for his administration. He is supporting research and development of advanced nuclear technologies. Although Biden is a Democrat, this new generation of reactors is also popular with many Republicans. Last October, before the last presidential election, the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) awarded eighty million dollars each to TerraPower LLC and X-energy to construct new reactors that they claim will be operational in seven years.
     One of the arguments for such new technologies is that many of the designs being considered are advertised as being much safer than current nuclear power reactors. However, upon close examination, many of the new reactor designs may present a greater risk of nuclear proliferation than conventional nuclear power.
     These new advanced reactors are usually much smaller than conventional nuclear power reactors. They may be cooled by materials such as molten metal salts instead of water. Some of them are supposed to be able to burn nuclear waste as fuel.
      Edwin Lyman is the director of nuclear power safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). He said, “The technologies are certainly different from current reactors, but it is not at all clear they are better. In many cases, they are worse with regard to … safety, and the potential for severe accidents and potential nuclear proliferation.” Lyman is the author of the report UCS released Thursday called “‘Advanced’ Isn’t Always Better.”
     While nuclear reactors do not emit carbon dioxide during operation, a great deal of carbon dioxide is generated during the construction of commercial nuclear power plants and more carbon dioxide is released during mine, refining and transportation of nuclear fuel.
     Current nuclear power is expected to play some role in lowering carbon dioxide emission in the U.S. The Biden administration hopes to reach zero carbon dioxide release from energy generation by 2050. Unfortunately, several of the ninety-four operating nuclear power reactors in the U.S. are being permanently closed because of high safety costs and stiff competition from natural gas, solar and wind energy. This situation has resulted in calls for funding the new nuclear technologies which are hoped to be less expensive than conventional nuclear power reactors.
     The fuel for many of the new reactor designs would have to be enriched to a much higher percentage of U-235 than fuel now used in conventional power reactors. This means that the fuel supply chain could be a very attractive target for terrorists trying to create a crude nuclear bomb or a dirty bomb.
     In order to fuel some of the new reactors with nuclear waste, it would be necessary to reprocess spent nuclear fuel it to make into new fuel. The U.S. has not reprocessed any spent nuclear fuel for decades because of a fear of proliferation and because of the expense. Other advanced reactors release large amounts of radioactive gases which adds to concerns about dealing with nuclear waste.
     Lyman stated that advanced nuclear development funds would be better spent hardening conventional nuclear power plants from risks such as earthquakes, hurricanes, and flooding. The just released UCS report recommends that the DoE suspend its advanced reactor demonstration program until the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) requires that functional prototype reactors be built and tested before any new advanced reactors can be licensed for commercial use.
     Brett Rampal is the director of nuclear innovation at Clean Air Task Force, a nonprofit that supports advanced nuclear reactors to fight climate change and cut harmful emissions. He said that the report’s conclusions were not based on rigorous assessment of the U.S. nuclear industry. He added that if the DoE acted on the recommendations in the UCS report, it would “essentially cease innovation in nuclear energy today.”

Ambient office = 90 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 115 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 112 nanosieverts per hour

Snow pea from Central Market = 100 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 108 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 87 nanosieverts per hour

Part 2 of 2 Parts (Please read Part 1 first)
     In the interaction of the charged plasma particles with the confining magnetic field, various disturbances of the plasma confinement can happen. These disturbances include instabilities at the plasma edge referred to as edge localized modes (ELMs). In this process, the edge plasma briefly loses its confinement and throws plasma particles and energy outwards onto the walls of the plasma containment vessel. While medium-sized plants such as the ASDEX Upgrade are able to deal with this problem, the divertor in large fusion reactors such as ITER could easily become overloaded. In order to solve this problem, procedures to prevent such instabilities have been developed for the ASDEX Upgrade. Sixteen small magnetic coils built into the plasma containment vessel are able to completely suppress the instabilities in the confinement fields. A second method for dealing with instabilities starts at the outermost edge of the plasma. If the right plasma shape can be achieved by the magnetic confinement fields while a sufficiently high particle density is ensured by the injection of hydrogen, then ELMs cannot develop.
     Continuous operation is guaranteed by tokamak type fusion reactors such as the ASDEX Upgrade, the JET or the ITER which construct a magnetic cage with two superimposed magnetic fields. One field is ring-shaped and is generated by external magnetic coils and another field that is generated by a current flowing in the plasma. The combination of the two fields results in the field lines being twisted in a way that encloses the plasma. The current that flow through the plasma is normally induced in pulses generated by a transformer coil in the plasma. Unlike the more complicated stellarator fusion reactor design, the tokamaks entire system operates in pulses which is a problem of the tokamak design.
     Scientists at the MPIPP are investigating various methods for continuously generating the current in the plasma. For example, the injection of high-frequency waves or particle beams can drive an additional current in the plasma. They have almost been able to operate the system without the need for a transformer. This was done for the first time in a machine with a metallic inner wall. If the ASDEX Upgrade had not been equipped with normally conducting copper coils but had rather been constructed with superconducting magnetic coils, this phase could have been extended for much longer. It could have made continuous operation possible,
     During the thirty years that have been dedicated to the ASDEX Upgrade, the MPIPP has changed and optimized the divertor shape several times. The researchers now intend to test a new divertor concept. Two additional magnetic coils on the roof of the plasma containment vessel are intended to fan out the divertor field so that the power from the plasma is distributed over a larger area. Assembly of the coils is scheduled to begin in the middle of 2022. These expansions will also enable future investigation at the Garching tokamak to solve the problems expected in a future demonstration power plant.
     Arne Kallenbach is the Project Leader for the ASDEX Upgrade. He said, “In many ways, the ASDEX Upgrade can be seen as a blueprint for a tokamak fusion power plant. Together with newly developed computer codes, the sample discharges developed over 30 years provide reliable information for a power plant.”

Ambient office = 79 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 112 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 115 nanosieverts per hour

Carrot from Central Market = 59 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 118 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 111 nanosieverts per hour