Ambient office  = 108 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 168 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 167 nanosieverts per hour

Blueberry from Central Market = 93 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water =105 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 93 nanosieverts per hour

       I have often blogged about the problem of nuclear waste disposal. In the U.S. alone there are over a hundred million pounds of spent nuclear fuel accumulating at nuclear power plants, but we have no permanent underground repository for spent nuclear fuel. The soonest we will have such a repository is 2050. The best that we can do is move the spent nuclear fuel rods from the cooling pools at nuclear plants to temporary storage in dry casks either at the site or a temporary storage facility. Any scientific discoveries that could help with this problem are welcome.
      The co-winner of the 2018 Nobel Physics prize is Professor Gérard Mourou. The Nobel prize was awarded to Mourou and Donna Strickland for their work on a technique called Chirped Pulse Amplification (CPA). The work was carried out at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics at the University of Rochester in the USA.
      In the CPA technique, high-intensity, ultra-short pulses are light are generated by a laser. These short powerful blasts of laser light can make extremely accurate cuts in many different materials. In addition to being useful for laser cutting, this technique can also be used to study natural phenomena.
       The pulses of light created by CPA last for one attosecond. This is one billionth of a billionth of a second. With these extremely rapid pulses it is possible to study molecules and atoms. Not only is it possible to study atoms but it may be possible to influence the nucleus of an atom. Apparently, it will be possible to change the number of neutrons in the nucleus. This could result in altering the isotopic composition of radioactive materials and reducing the half-life of their radioactivity.
        Mourou said this in the French language journal, The Conversation, “Take the nucleus of an atom. It is made up of protons and neutrons. If we add or take away a neutron, it changes absolutely everything. It is no longer the same atom, and its properties will completely change. The lifespan of nuclear waste is fundamentally changed, and we could cut this from a million years to 30 minutes!
We are already able to irradiate large quantities of material in one go with a high-power laser, so the technique is perfectly applicable and, in theory, nothing prevents us from scaling it up to an industrial level. This is the project that I am launching in partnership with the Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission, or CEA, in France. We think that in 10 or 15 years’ time we will have something we can demonstrate. This is what really allows me to dream, thinking of all the future applications of our invention.”
       If Mourou can actually transmute nuclear waste and substantially reduce the period during which it is dangerously radioactive, it will have a tremendous impact on the global nuclear industry. Such a solution to the nuclear waste problem could make nuclear power competitive with other sources of energy. Unfortunately, if it takes ten or fifteen years to create a prototype, then it will come too late to be of much help in mitigating climate change.

Ambient office  = 88 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 129 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 126 nanosieverts per hour

Bartlett from Central Market = 159 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 70 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 61 nanosieverts per hour

       The Trump administration is all about deregulation. Granted, there are some federal regulations that are not necessary but there are a lot of regulations that were created to protect human health and the environment. The EPA has been dumping regulations that are intended to protect air and water. They have even considered rejecting scientific findings that argue against their orgy of regulation cutting. In addition, they are halting some efforts to revise existing regulations. I am very concerned about this trend, especially when it involves the primary subject of this blog.
       On the day before Donald Trump was sworn in on  January 20 of 2018, proposals for revision of Health and Environmental Protection Standards for Uranium and Thorium Mill Tailings (40 CFR 192) were submitted by the outgoing Obama administration. The proposed revisions were to standards used to regulate byproducts produced at uranium mines by in situ leaching (ISL). These changes are to standards for protecting groundwater and site restoration projects.
       ISL is a mining process used to recover minerals such as copper and uranium through boreholes drilled into a deposit, in situ. “In situ” is Latin and it means “in place.” ISL works by artificially dissolving minerals occurring naturally in a solid state. Acids or carbonates are used to dissolve the minerals. There are environmental concerns about the leaching solution getting into the groundwater.
        The EPA said that there were three reasons that it was withdrawing the proposed rule changes. The first reason given was that the agency was concerned that it did not have the proper authority under the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act to make changes to the standards. These issues had been raised by involved parties including the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The second reason is that they believe that current regulatory structures are able to protect public health and the environment at existing ISL facilities. The third reason that the proposals were withdrawn was that the projected higher volume of ISL license applications did not, if fact, arrive. The agency said “Therefore, there is less need for the rule, which was intended to provide a more workable and efficient approach for addressing these expected new applications, compared to existing mechanisms.”
A few days ago, the acting EPA administrator said, “In a rush to regulate during the waning hours of the previous administration, the Agency proposed a regulation that would have imposed significant burdens on uranium miners and the communities they support. Today’s action is an important step in rebalancing EPA’s role with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s with respect to protecting public health and the environment alongside supporting modern methods of uranium extraction.”
      The Chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works said, “The Nuclear Regulatory Commission – our nation’s principal nuclear regulator – has said there is no health or safety justification for EPA’s midnight rule. The NRC has regulated in situ uranium recovery for nearly 40 years. The agency has never found an instance of ground water contamination that would be addressed by this rule. I’m glad the Environmental Protection Agency has acknowledged this reality. I applaud it for withdrawing this punishing and unnecessary regulation on America’s uranium producers.”
       This Withdrawal of Proposed Rule will be effective on the day that it is published in the Federal Register.

Ambient office  = 103 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 132 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 132 nanosieverts per hour

Beefsteak from Central Market = 115 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 101 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 83 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient office  = 100 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 140 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 143 nanosieverts per hour

Red bell pepper from Central Market = 101 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 118 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 109 nanosieverts per hour