Ambient office = 87 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 111 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 109 nanosieverts per hour

Mini cucumber from Central Market = 111 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 94 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 89 nanosieverts per hour

     In the shadow of a huge monument glorifying nuclear power in Brussels, Belgium, thirty-four nations from around the world pledged to use nuclear power to help achieve a climate-neutral globe while providing countries with an added sense of strategic security.
     The idea of a Nuclear Energy Summit would have been hard to imagine a dozen years ago after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan. However, the tide has turned in recent years. Global warming has made it necessary to phase out fossil fuels, while the war in Ukraine has laid bare Europe’s dependence on Russian energy.
     Rafael Grossi is the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency. He said, “We have to do everything possible to facilitate the contribution of nuclear energy. It is clear: Nuclear is here. It has an important role to play.”
     Thirty-four nations, including the United States, China, France, Britain and Saudi Arabia, committed “to work to fully unlock the potential of nuclear energy by taking measures such as enabling conditions to support and competitively finance the lifetime extension of existing nuclear reactors, the construction of new nuclear power plants and the early deployment of advanced reactors. A statement was released that read, “We commit to support all countries, especially emerging nuclear ones, in their capacities and efforts to add nuclear energy to their energy mixes.”
      The one-day meeting was held in Brussels next to the 1958 Atomium which is a three hundred-and thirty-five-foot-tall construction of nine iron atoms. It was constructed to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy in the wake of the nuclear bomb explosions at the end of World War II and their use as a geopolitical deterrent ever since.
     Fatih Birol is the executive director of the International Energy Agency. He said, “Without the support of nuclear power, we have no chance to reach our climate targets on time. Renewables will play the major role in terms of electricity, especially solar supported by wind and hydropower. But we also need nuclear power, especially in those countries where we don’t have major renewable potential. We have to do whatever we can to increase the current nuclear capacity, which is currently only less than 10% of global electricity generation.”
     France is the leader in nuclear energy in Europe. It accounts for about two-thirds of its overall energy requirements.
     French President Macron said that “thanks to the nuclear model, France is one of the few countries that exports its electricity, which is an opportunity. We should be much more concerned about, for example, CO2 emissions, which have a direct impact on you and me and on our health every day. Our priority must be to get out of coal and gas and move towards nuclear power and renewable energy.”
     The devastating impact of nuclear accidents, like the one in 1986 in Chernobyl, Ukraine, was barely mentioned. Outside the summit, environmental groups sought to highlight the dangers of the Summit. They tried to convince leaders that renewable energy sources like wind and solar were much more practical and worthwhile.
     Building nuclear power plants takes many years and projects are usually marred by cost and deadline overruns. Environmentalists stressed that point with demonstrations outside the summit center.
     Lorelei Limousin of Greenpeace said, “Nuclear, all the evidence shows, is too slow to build. It is too expensive. Much more expensive than renewables. The government must focus on developing renewable energy, energy savings, the real solutions that work for people like home insulation, public transport — not nuclear energy fairy tales.”

Ambient office = 74 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 82 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 85 nanosieverts per hour

Avocado from Central Market = 64 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 80 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 69 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient office = 66 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 106 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 108 nanosieverts per hour

Tomato from Central Market = 83 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 80 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 67 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient office = 81 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 106 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 99 nanosieverts per hour

Seranos pepper from Central Market = 55 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 100 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 94 nanosieverts per hour

Dover Sole from Central = 113 nanosieverts per hour

     French Armed Forces Minister Sébastien Lecornu announced on March 18 that production of tritium, which is essential for the manufacture of thermonuclear weapons, will be resumed in France. Two civilian reactors owned by the EDF conglomerate will be used to produce the tritium. 
     A press release by the French Ministry of Defence reported that the production of tritium will not affect the electricity generation by the Civaux nuclear power plant located in southwestern France. The production of tritium will take place on the premises of the Commissariat à l’énergie atomique (CEA). This is a French scientific and industrial facility specializing in nuclear research.
     This project is the culmination of over twenty-five years of discussions between the French Ministry of Defence and the EDF conglomerate. The agreement is meant to fill the gap in tritium production left by the closure in 2009 of two reactors dedicated to tritium production located in Marcoule in southeastern France.
     Tritium is a radioactive hydrogen isotope consisting of one proton and two neutrons. It is very rare in the atmosphere of the Earth.  The only practical means of production is to expose lithium to the high level of radiation present in a nuclear reactor core. Following the irradiation, tritium can be recovered from the exposed lithium. It is very difficult to store tritium because hydrogen can leak through most types of seals.
     Tritium is highly unstable with a half-life of twelve years. This means that a constant source of production is necessary. Tritium has many applications, from fluorescent surfaces on watches, keyrings, or firearm sights, to its most important role as fuel in nuclear fusion.
     Tritium is currently used in nuclear weapons which are based on thermonuclear warheads. These warheads allow for tremendous destructive power in a very small size. In the detonation of a nuclear warhead, energy is not produced in a chain reaction of fission of uranium and/or plutonium nuclei but in a thermonuclear fusion reaction. In such a reaction, where hydrogen isotopes combine under very high temperature and pressure to form helium, a huge amount of energy is released.
     An initial nuclear explosion is required to create the conditions necessary to start the reaction that will lead to nuclear fusion, but its power is a small percentage of the total. The largest thermonuclear bomb ever constructed and detonated, Tsar Bomba, had a yield of fifty megatons but was impractical for military use. Normally, much weaker warheads are used, but in larger numbers.
     According to estimates, France has two hundred and ninety nuclear warheads, divided into two categories. Strategic nuclear weapons include TN 75 warheads with a yield of around one hundred and fifty kilotons and tactical TN-81 with an adjustable yield of one hundred to three hundred kilotons. The former warheads are carried by Le Triomphant class submarines launching intercontinental ballistic missiles with a range of five thousand to six thousand miles from the M45 or M51 families carrying up to ten MIRV sub-warheads targeting different objectives.
     The latter type is installed in ASMP-A cruise missiles with a range of up to three hundred and ten miles carried by multirole Rafale aircraft.

Ambient office = 132 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 73 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 80 nanosieverts per hour

Shallot from Central Market = 104 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 84 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 77 nanosieverts per hour