Ambient office  = 106 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 103 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 99 nanosieverts per hour

Blueberry from Central Market = 117 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 100 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 98 nanosieverts per hour

       The three major nuclear armed powers are the U.S., Russia and China. While the U.S. and the Soviet Union built up huge stockpiles of nuclear warheads which were then reduced by disarmament treaties to a few thousand warheads each, China only has a few hundred warheads. They have a policy of not being the first to use nuclear weapons in a war. Their nuclear weapons exist only for the purpose of deterrence.
       In the past few years, there has been an escalation of tensions between Russia and the U.S. that has prompted both countries to develop new nuclear weapons and expand their nuclear arsenals. Because of this, China has been reconsidering its nuclear policy and arsenal. China is working on expanding their nuclear deterrence.
       There are three main delivery systems for nuclear weapons; bombers, ICBMs and nuclear submarines. China has bombers and ICBMs but does not have many nuclear submarines. They have been working to develop a reliable nuclear submarine fleet for decades with limited success. Analysts think that a reliable and effective Chinese nuclear missile submarine fleet would ultimately have a stabilizing influence on the balance of nuclear weapons in the world. However, there is fear that in the short term, it could be destabilizing.
       China did not actual finish its first nuclear missile submarine until the late 1980s. It was called the Type 092 SSBN but it was never dispatched on any operational patrols because it was noisy and unreliable. In addition, the missiles it carries were very short range.
       The current generation of Chinese nuclear missile submarines is called the Type 094 SSBN. They were put into service in 2006 but only started deterrent patrols in 2015. Each one carries twelve JL-2 missiles with nuclear warheads which have much longer ranges than the first missiles that China put on submarines. There are only four Type 094 submarines in existence. They have been operating in the South China Sea recently. U.S. military analysts believe that China will be building from five to eight more Type 094. The U.S. is working on enhancing its anti-submarine capabilities in response to this expectation.
       Tong Zhao is a fellow in the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, based at the Carnegie–Tsinghua Center for Global Policy in Beijing. He recently issued a report on Chinese nuclear missile submarines. He said, “A fleet of survivable nuclear ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs) would reduce China’s concerns about the credibility of its nuclear deterrent and lessen the country’s incentives to further expand its arsenal. Such benefits, however, will be tempered by vulnerabilities associated with Beijing’s current generation of SSBNs.”
       In the near to mid-term, developing an SSBN fleet will require China to substantially enlarge its previously small stockpile of strategic ballistic missiles, possibly exacerbating the threat perceptions of potential adversaries and causing them to take countermeasures that might eventually intensify an emerging arms competition. China has obtained, for the first time, a demonstrably operational underwater nuclear capability. This represents the start of a new era for China’s sea-based nuclear forces.”
      The nuclear missiles in China’s current and planned nuclear missile submarines represent about half of China’s long-range nuclear missiles. As they build and deploy more nuclear missile submarines, the proportion of long-range nuclear missiles that can be delivered by a Chinese submarine will rise. In case of a surprise nuclear attack, Chinese submarine missiles have more potential to survive than nuclear warheads delivered by land-based ICBMs or nuclear warheads on bombers.
       Tong wrote that “If China’s SSBNs significantly contribute to the credibility of its overall nuclear deterrent, China would have less of an incentive to further enlarge its nuclear arsenal. China has a few unilateral steps that it should take to ensure that the growth of its SSBN fleet is as undisruptive as possible to regional security dynamics and to its own security interests. If China allows nationalistic sentiments to induce it to build a massive sea-based nuclear capability beyond any practical security needs, this could raise doubts in foreign countries about Beijing’s strategic intentions and contribute to an unnecessary, damaging strategic arms competition.”

Ambient office  = 50 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 101 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 103 nanosieverts per hour

Orange bell pepper from Central Market = 114 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 92 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 82 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient office  = 81 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 151 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 155 nanosieverts per hour

Yellow bell pepper from Central Market = 78 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 137 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 133 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient office  = 87 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 135 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 133 nanosieverts per hour

Bartlett pear from Central Market = 104 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 154 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 146 nanosieverts per hour

Dover sole – Caught in USA = 111 nanosieverts per hour

Part 5 of 5 Parts (Please read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4
       And, finally, there is the possibility of just burying the waste deep enough that future generations would not even be aware of it and would not be threatened. The Posiva project in Finland calls for a repository that is sixteen hundred feet underground. After the repository chambers are filled, the access shafts would be filled with rocks and concrete. The landscape over the repository would be landscaped and the repository could be safely forgotten.
      In response to the critics of their plan, Posiva says, “It would take years to dig with a material that probably doesn’t actually exist. And the site is not interesting in terms of mining resources. Also, you should note that after the next ice age, there will no longer be any city or building in Europe anyway. Everything will have disappeared under a mile of ice. So, any question (on the necessity to communicate its presence for thousands of years) is completely hypothetical.”
       On the other hand, a future civilization might have some use for nuclear waste. If they have the technology to dig sixteen hundred feet for an unmarked geological repository, they will likely have the understanding and technology necessary to safely handle nuclear waste.
       There was a conference in France on this same subject in 2014. A report that preceded the conference said that “the approach of trading the topic of radioactive waste through mystical tales could be interesting, as the core of the message can be packaged in stories that deal more with fundamental existential themes (creation, death, size, freedom, etc.) and less with daily political or ideological topics.”  
      My fear is that none of these things will be done. If we are facing the decline of our civilization as has been claimed by many scientists, there will also be a decline in funding for these kinds of projects and a decline in political will to carry them out. There are many places around the world where nuclear waste is being stored. There are many places where the development of nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons have left areas of terrible radioactive contamination. There is a whole lake in Russia that contains high levels of radioactive materials. Maybe some effort will be made to safely store some of these dangerous materials for millennia, but they will be few and far between.
      If there is a collapse of our civilization because of resources exhaustion, greedy ruling elites and/or climate change, we will most likely be left with a global landscape scattered with dangerous zones where death and illness would find those who strayed into them. If the human race endures through the millennia, perhaps there will be legends of cursed lands to avoid. Maybe future civilizations will add their warning to avoid these places and they will be famous and well-known. Twisted and diseased plants and animals may also provide a warning to avoid these cursed lands. As with many problems that face us, only time will tell.
      And, finally, it may be that those who follow us will learn to curse their ancestors who tried to gain the power of the gods and failed miserably, leaving the world with a deadly legacy.