Part 2 of 2 Parts (Please read Part 1 first)
     Under the proposal, FSC will install an electrolysis unit (LTE) at the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station. The project will address major interface requirements for LWR hybrid operations such as dynamic controls to allocate power output between the electrical grid and the LTE unit. A final report will be produced that details outcomes and business case opportunities. It will be made available to partners and third parties interested in LWR hybrid energy systems. The DoE will supply about nine million dollars. Non-DoE sources will supply about two million dollars. The total funding will be about eleven million dollars.
    The Application of Machine Learning for Enhanced Diagnostic and Prognostic Capabilities of Nuclear Power Plant Assets will receive the second award. Blue Wave Capital and Consulting, DBA Blue Wave AI Labs (BWAL) (Celebration, FL) will develop and provide Machines Learning solution for the purpose of improving and extending diagnostic and prognostic capabilities that can be applied to predictive maintenance for nuclear power plants.
    “BluWave-ai seeks to realize a world powered by renewable energy. We are committed to accelerating the adoption and use of renewable energy sources like wind and solar across communities and corporations to realize the “Utility of the Future”. To achieve this, we use artificial intelligence (AI) and big data analytics to put the smart in smart grid. BluWave-ai is pleased to work with energy innovators like Tata Power, Hydro Ottawa, and Natural Resources Canada to realize a more sustainable and affordable grid for all.”    
     The BWAL solutions will integrate a great deal of structured and unstructured historical data from fifteen boiling water reactors. This data was collected over multiple fuel cycles. This was done in order to capture the complete operation and dynamic environment of nuclear power plant components. The DoE will supply about five and a half million dollars. Non-DoE sources will supply about one and a half million dollars. The total funding will be about seven million dollars.
     Under the Regulatory Assistance Grant pathway, funding will be supplied for the Advanced Fuel Qualification Methodology Report for TerraPower Traveling Wave Reactor. TerraPower LLC (Bellevue, WA.) will develop an Advanced Fuel Qualification Methodology Report for TerraPower’s Traveling Wave Reactor (TWR) fuel. This report will be delivered to the NRC for their review and approval.
     “TerraPower is a nuclear reactor design company headquartered in Bellevue, Washington, United States. TerraPower is developing a class of nuclear fast reactors called the traveling wave reactor (TWR).”
     The processes and methodologies detailed in the report should also be generally applicable to other types of fuel. This will assist the U.S. nuclear power industry in qualifying nuclear fuels. The DoE will supply about five hundred thousand dollars. Non-DoE sources will supply about five hundred thousand dollars. The total funding will be about a one million dollars.
     The ONE funds research, development and demonstration projects which may reduce the risk and cost of advanced nuclear technologies. Their purpose also includes improving nuclear energy’s contributions to meeting the U.S.’s economic, energy needs and challenges to the environment.

Ambient office  = 62 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 63 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 66 nanosieverts per hour

Blueberry from Central Market = 90 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 126 nanosieverts per hour

Filtered water = 104 nanosieverts per hour

Part 1 of 2 Parts
      The U.S. Department of Energy announced yesterday that they had selected three projects in three states to receive about fifteen million dollars in funding for domestic advanced nuclear technology projects. These projects are cost-shared between the DoE and non-DoE funding sources. They will permit teams led by nuclear industry companies to include participants from federal agencies, public and private laboratories, universities and other institutions to advance the capabilities of U.S. nuclear power generation.
     The Office of Nuclear Energy (ONE) will fund these awards through their U.S. Industry Opportunities for Advanced Nuclear Technology Development funding opportunity. The mission of the ONE is “to advance nuclear power to meet the nation’s energy, environmental, and national security needs. Under the guidance of three research objectives, NE resolves barriers to technical, cost, safety, security, and proliferation resistance through early-stage research, development, and demonstration to:
• Enhance the long-term viability and competitiveness of the existing U.S. reactor fleet.
• Develop an advanced reactor pipeline.
• Implement and maintain national strategic fuel cycle and supply chain infrastructure.”

    There have been five previous rounds of funding through this funding opportunity. These previous rounds took place on April 27 of 2018, July 10 of 2018, November 13 of 2018, March 27 of 2019 and May 23 of 2019. About one hundred and ninety-five million dollars’ worth of awards have been made since the first group of awards on April 27 of 2018. There will be quarterly applications and reviews for funding awards in the next three years.
      Rick Perry is the U.S. Secretary of Energy. He said, “Several U.S. companies are working on technologies to make the next generation of nuclear reactors highly competitive, and private-public partnerships will be key to successfully developing innovative domestic nuclear technologies. The Trump Administration is committed to reviving and revitalizing the U.S. nuclear industry.”  These awards are made in three different types of funding pathways.
     The First-of-a-Kind (FOAK) Nuclear Demonstration Readiness Project pathway is intended for projects involving major advanced reactor design developments. It is also intended for complex technology advancements for existing nuclear power plants where there are technical and licensing risks. All these projects must have the potential to be deployed by the mid-to-late 2020s.
     The Advanced Reactor Development Projects pathway will solicit a broad scope of proposed concepts and ideas that are suitable for improving the capabilities and commercialization possibilities of advanced reactor designs and technologies.
      Regulatory Assistance Grants pathway will supply direct support for the purpose of resolving design regulatory issues and reviews by regulators of licensing topical reports or papers. Other programs which are focused on obtaining certification and licensing approvals for advanced reactor designs and capabilities will also be supported.
      Two projects were selected for awards under the FOAK pathway.
      The first award went to the LWR Integrated Energy Systems Interface Technology Development & Demonstration. FirstEnergy Solutions Corporation (FSC) will be funded to develop a light water reactor (LWR) hybrid energy system.
     FirstEnergy Corp is an electric utility headquartered in Akron, Ohio. Its subsidiaries and affiliates are involved in the distribution, transmission, and generation of electricity, as well as energy management and other energy-related services.
Please read Part 2

Ambient office  = 76 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 90 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 95 nanosieverts per hour

Avocado from Central Market = 86 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 118 nanosieverts per hour

Filtered water = 108 nanosieverts per hour

     Recep Tayyip Erdogan is the President of Turkey. Turkey has been a secular nation since its formation around 1920. Erdogan has worked to bring more religion into the governing of Turkey. He is a controversial figure who has cultivated and angered both the U.S. and Russia. Now he is calling for Turkey to have its own nuclear weapons.
     Erdogan promoted the Turkey defense industry recently at the Central Anatolian Economic Forum in the central province of Sivas. He made special mention of contacts with Russia and the U.S. and said that China would also be approached. He complained that the international community was against Turkey having nuclear weapons. He said, “I do not accept that. Right now, nearly all the countries in the developed world have nuclear missiles.”
    There are currently about fifty U.S. nuclear warheads deployed in Turkey under the NATO nuclear sharing program. These warheads are located at the Turkish Incirlik Base. They are under U.S. control but there are concerns about their safety because of regional instability and political differences of involved nations.
     Turkey signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in 1980. This treaty opposed the possession of nuclear weapons by any nations other than the “recognized” nuclear powers including Russia, the U.S., France, the U.K. and China. In spite of the Treaty, other countries who have not signed have developed their own nuclear weapons including India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel.
     Turkey has been a member of NATO since 1952. Recently Turkey has been working on improving its relationship with Russia. This has caused problems in Turkey’s relationship with member of NATO. After all, it was in opposition to Russia that NATA created the nuclear sharing program which has resulted in the deployment of U.S. nuclear warheads in Turkey. In spite of U.S. warnings, Turkey has purchased and installed the Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile system. Turkish Defense Ministry personnel have begun training on the S-400 system in Russia. 
     In reaction to Turkey’s purchase of the S-400 system, U.S. President Trump suspended their participation in the advanced F-35 fifth-generation fighter jet program. Russian President Putin responded to Trump’s action by demonstrating the Russian fifth-generation Su-57 fighter when Erdogan attended the International Aviation and Space Show (MAKS) at the Zhukovsky International Airport outside Moscow.
   In spite of issues around advanced fighters, Turkey is still interested in U.S. weapons. Erdogan said today that he would be discussing purchase of a U.S. Patriot surface-to-air missile system with U.S. representatives soon. While the Russian S-400 system can be used against both enemy aircraft and enemy missiles, the U.S. Patriot system can only be used against enemy missiles. Erdogan said that he would only buy the Patriot system if he was offered the same terms that Russia gave him for the S-400 system.
     Turkey has worked with both the U.S. and Russia in Syria even thought all three nations have different and, in some cases, competing interests. Turkey is the last major foreign sponsor for Syrian rebels who were once backed by the U.S. However, Turkey did join with Assad allies Russia and Iran in a trilateral peace process in Syria.

Ambient office  = 87 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 102 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 89 nanosieverts per hour

Avocado from Central Market = 90 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 98 nanosieverts per hour

Filtered water = 88 nanosieverts per hour

Part 2 of 2 Parts (Please read Part 1 first)
     These proposals from Perry were killed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission as well as top White House national security officials. In June, Perry was forced to admit that there was no federal authority that would permit the federal government to force regional utilities to purchase energy from a particular source or of a particular type. Having failed to get the help they wanted from the federal government, the nuclear industry has turned to individual state governments to lobby for support. Recently, Ohio voted to provide a nuclear power supplier with one hundred and fifty million dollars of support.
     Ken Cook is the President of the Environmental Working Group (EWG). The EWG is a nonprofit, non-partisan organization. The EWG seeks to drive consumer choice and civic action by research, advocacy and education about healthier environmental options. He said, “The Trump administration is once again looking to prop up the dying and dangerous nuclear energy industry and squandering taxpayer dollars to do it. Nuclear power is a relic of the last century, too risky, too expensive and completely rejected by Wall Street investors. Instead of backing another energy loser, the administration should push to make America’s wind and solar power great again, by helping U.S. makers of turbines and solar panels recover from years of standing by while foreign competitors dominate.”
     The Energy Information Administration has collected data which shows that solar power capacity has grown by a factor of eighty-nine and wind power capacity has grown by six times. Unfortunately, solar panels and wind turbines manufacture is dominated by Chinese and European companies.
      Reuters has reported that the working group created by the White House is scheduled to make recommendations to bail out domestic uranium mining in particular and the nuclear industry in general by October 10th of this year.
     A great deal of the known deposits of uranium in the U.S. are located in the Southwest. There are deposits along the rim of the Grand Canyon. In 2012, the Secretary of the Interior created a twenty-year moratorium on uranium mining on over one million acres of land along the rim of the Grand Canyon. However, in November of 2017, the Trump administration announced that it was developing plans to reconsider the Grand Canyon mining ban. In March of 2018, the U.S. uranium mining lobby sent a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court requesting that they lift the mining ban created during the Obama administration.
    A wild card in the production of uranium has recently been developed. Researchers have found ways to use cheap acrylic materials that can be recycled to extract uranium from sea water. This year, one of the research groups is starting tests of their extraction process. They claim that if their system works as expected, they can be competitive with current uranium production from mining operations. If this proves to be true, then uranium mining will decline, and existing deposits of uranium ore will fall in value. There is enough uranium in the ocean to power all the reactors in existence and being planned for thousands of years. And, uranium from the ocean does not have the dire environmental consequences of uranium mining.