The upload as it appears in Safecast's new web map.Beyond Nuclear is pleased to have been selected for the first ever "Upload of the Month" by Safecast, for our bGeigie Nano radiation monitor readings taken at the Van Buren State Park in Michigan, immediately north of Entergy Nuclear's Palisades atomic reactor on the Lake Michigan shoreline.
Safecast wrote: "Every now and then we get a data submission which strikes us as particularly interesting for one reason or another, and we’d like to start highlighting them. So here’s our first “Upload of the Month.”"
Safecast addded: "A lot of people are concerned about radiation levels in areas near nuclear power plants, but we rarely see reliable independent surveys of the sort that can help inform people about what is normal and what is not. Safecasters can quickly and easily survey and post readings like these, and as more a data like this becomes publicly available it will help establish baselines for radiation levels in areas of concern. This bGeigie Nano survey shows readings mainly in the 25-40 CPM [Counts Per Minute] range, with a few slightly higher areas. We don’t have a lot of data from this area to compare this to, but it seems well within the range of normal background."
Beyond Nuclear is committed to return to Palisades -- and other atomic reactors -- to continue collecting radioactivity measurements, in order to be able to make comparisons over time. Although Safecast commented that our June 11, 2014 measurements near Palisades "[seem] well within the range of normal background," Palisades has leaked radioactivity into the environment (including a 2007 tritium leak into soil and groundwater, and a 2013 spill of more than 80 gallons of radioactive water directly into Lake Michigan). Palisades also "routinely," intentionally "batch releases" radioactivity into Lake Michigan, as well as into the air.
Safecast concluded: "Another reason we’re happy to see this upload is that Beyond Nuclear was one of the groups which participated in the bGeigie Nano workshop we held in Washington DC in April of this year. It’s great to see concrete results like this emerge from that important effort."
In addition to the Palisades upload to Safecast, Beyond Nuclear has also taken bGeigie Nano radiation monitor readings at the University of Michigan research reactor in Ann Arbor, as well as the Point Beach and Kewaunee nuclear power plants in northern Wisconsin. Beyond Nuclear hopes to facilitate the distribution of equipment and know how to grassroots groups in the not too distant future, so they can do their own watchdogging.