Ambient office = 102 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 98 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 100 nanosieverts per hour

Red bell pepper from Central Market = 158 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 97 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 81 nanosieverts per hour

Part 1 of 2 Parts
     Nuclear power enjoyed popularity in the 1970s and many of the currently operating U.S. reactors date from that period. However, cost overruns, schedule delays and several serious nuclear accidents cooled that popularity in the following decades. In one of the more surprising comebacks in recent memory, nuclear power is back in the headlines. Its new popularity is being fueled by rising demand for clean energy.
     Microsoft recently made headlines by announcing a deal with the operators of Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island to provide carbon-free fuel to help power its data centers. Three Mile Island was the site of the nation’s worst nuclear accident.
     The Biden administration followed the Microsoft announcement on Monday by announcing that it has finalized a loan to reactivate the shuttered Palisades nuclear plant in Michigan over local objections. Representative Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) said “An American nuclear energy resurgence is beginning,” in a statement after the Microsoft deal was announced.
     If that is true, the resurgence is being driven by the technology industry’s demand for clean energy to fuel artificial intelligence and data centers. These facilities are on track to take an increasing share of the nation’s overall power demand in coming years at a time when there is pressure to reduce reliance on fossil fuels.
     Recent Gallup polls found that public support for nuclear energy is the highest it’s been in a decade. But public support by itself isn’t going to be enough to overcome the complications of reopening nuclear facilities that fell out of vogue decades ago or getting new plants built. This is especially true in light of the delays and cost overruns that plagued construction of the recently completed Vogtle project in Georgia.
     But Big Tech money just might fuel the nuclear resurgence as cutting-edge companies push their AI dreams as climate positive. Meta has indicated support for nuclear power, and Amazon signed an agreement last March to buy a nuclear-powered data center.
     The fact that nuclear’s comeback is being fueled by some of the world’s wealthiest corporations is raising concerns among some experts. David Hess is a former Pennsylvania secretary of environmental protection who lived a dozen miles away from Three Mile Island during its 1979 meltdown. He is particularly critical of the Microsoft deal. He commented that “Fundamentally, it’s 1960s technology. It’s the only U.S. design of a nuclear power plant that failed catastrophically. So people better go into this with their eyes open, especially because it’s being restarted not for public benefit, but for the private benefit of one company.”
     Facing diminishing low-carbon options as solar and wind power continue to be brought online, states across the country are taking nuclear power seriously as a part of their energy plans. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro wants a rapid permitting process to reopen Three Mile Island. Governor Kathy Hochul is talking up nuclear power in New York State. Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin is recommending nuclear power as a cornerstone of his energy agenda. And California Governor Gavin Newsom worked hard to save California’s last remaining nuclear plant.
Please read Part 2 next

Ambient office = 134 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 115 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 111 nanosieverts per hour

Potato from Central Market = 80 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 103 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 90 nanosieverts per hour

     U.S. developer Aalo Atomics has announced it is collaborating with Idaho Falls Power in a project intended to deploy seven factory-built Aalo-1 microreactors, totaling seventy-five megawatts of generation. Microreactors typically have a twenty megawatt or less capacity.
     Yasir Arafat is the Aalo Chief Technical Officer. He said that the Aalo-1 microreactors will be built at the company’s reactor factory and headquarters in Austin, Texas. “The reactors for this project could be the first factory-built commercial microreactors in this country. This approach will allow significantly higher predictability in quality, cost, and schedule than today’s large-scale plants, which, at best, take nearly a decade to build.”
     Aalo said that its Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Idaho Falls Power will deliver clean, dependable power to the city of Idaho Falls. It will “open the door for surrounding communities to harness the benefits of advanced nuclear technology”. Idaho Falls Power will use part of the microreactors’ output. The remaining power will be made available to surrounding municipalities and other commercial firms.
     Municipal electric utility Idaho Falls Power currently owns and operates five hydropower plants along the Snake River. These plants provide about one-third of the electricity used in the city of Idaho Falls. It also owns a “small” solar installation but buys most of the balance of its power from the Bonneville Power Administration. The utility stated that it is “negotiating a power purchase agreement with Aalo Atomics” under which Aalo would lease land for the life of the project, up to 80 years, at Idaho Falls Power’s new Energy Research Park. Aalo recently began construction of a seventeen and a half megawatt natural gas plant at the Park.
     Aalo said its choice of Idaho Falls was strategic, building on the area’s rich history of nuclear innovation and ongoing development, and strong public support for nuclear power projects.
     Earlier this year, Aalo announced it had completed the design of the Aalo-1 which is a factory-fabricated ten-megawatt sodium-cooled microreactor using uranium zirconium hydride fuel elements. Aalo is working on the construction of a non-nuclear test reactor (Aalo-0), at its Austin HQ. It plans to build its first nuclear reactor called the Aalo Experimental reactor (Aalo-X) at the Idaho National Laboratory as part of its phased approach to development and deployment.
     In line with this development philosophy, the MoU between Aalo and Idaho Falls Power stipulates that the project can only proceed to full construction once specific cost and uncertainty milestones are met, Aalo said. This will protect both parties from potential setbacks. Aalo is also considering other parallel commercialization paths.

     Matt Loszak is the Aalo CEO. He said that “This phased approach allows us to minimize risks while still pushing the boundaries with new nuclear technology We’ve built in multiple layers of risk reduction so that both partners can move forward with confidence.”
     Aalo added that it was moving forward with plans to secure regulatory approval from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The Idaho Falls project is “slated to go online before the end of the 2020s”, although Idaho Falls Power has said the project “is not expected to come online before 2030.”

Ambient office = 116 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 97 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 97 nanosieverts per hour

Jalapeno from Central Market = 81 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 101 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 87 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient office = 106 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 100 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 100 nanosieverts per hour

Green onion from Central Market = 165 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 90 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 80 nanosieverts per hour