10/31/2012 Alert lifted at Oyster Creek

Source(s): Associated Press, NRC
Date: 10/31/2012

As per the AP:

[...]
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said an alert at the Oyster Creek plant in Forked River, N.J., ended early Wednesday. An alert is the second-lowest designation in a four-tiered warning system.

The alert was triggered as water rose outside the plant, threatening cooling equipment. NRC officials said water levels had since fallen and were still dropping. The plant, which was offline before the storm, also regained offsite power after losing it.
[...]

The full history of the alert can be garnered the the NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Commission) event notification report 48452 here.

10/24/2012 115 CPM reading from Frederick, WI on Radiation Network

Source: Nokaoi Traverse (from Facebook Radiation Watch group)
Date: 10/24/2012 9:30 PM CST (approximate)

Editor's Note: A second Geiger Counter up North in the general area as the Grand Rapids, Minnesota meter from Radiation Network with high readings decreases the probability that the Grand Rapids meter (which is offline as of this moment) 100+CPM alert level reading was a fluke.  Note that the Frederic, WI meter has technically exceeded the alerting level but has not shown up in the alerts section of Radiation Network (yet).

Frederic, WI, US
Coordinates Latitude: 45.65920 Longitude: -92.46690
Altitude 1,237 feet
Station Name FREDERIC WI
Geiger Counter Model Inspector EXP+

Other Criteria In plastic tube 3 ft. external of N building face w/fan
Report Period Day Time AM/PM

Beginning time 10/24/12 08:05:53 PM
Ending time 10/24/12 10:17:11 PM
Elapsed Minutes 130


Radiation Counts
Value


Total Counts 11,249
Average CPM 86
Minimum CPM 63
Maximum CPM 115
Last Alert Level Set (CPM) 100


Time of Low/High Radiation Day Time AM/PM

Minimum CPM occurred 10/24/12 09:49:53 PM
Maximum CPM occurred 10/24/12 09:05:06 PM
Alert Level first exceeded 10/24/12 08:59:55 PM
Alert Level last exceeded 10/24/12 09:10:55 PM

RadiationNetwork shows 110 CPM in Grand Rapids, Minnesota

Source: RadiationNetwork.com
Date: 10/22/2012

Here is a copy and paste the Alerts section of RadiationNetwork.com:

Update: 10/22/12, 5:00 P.M. - Radiation Alert in Minnesota
The Radiation Network has a contributing Monitoring Station located in Grand Rapids, Minnesota that is triggering Radiation Alerts as I write this, since about 1:00 P.M. local time.  Until we receive feedback from the station operator, we have no reason to believe this is not a genuine detection of elevated radiation levels, and so as with our policy, this will be allowed to play out for the time being.
The graph shows steadily rising radiation from a normal background level of about 40 CPM, eventually exceeding the 100 CPM alert level on our network.  We know Grand Rapids operates the PRM-9000 Geiger counter which is built around the same ultra-sensitive pancake style Geiger-Mueller tube as in the Inspector line of instruments.  Without yet knowing the source or nature of the Grand Rapids radiation, I can say that particular model of GM tube has demonstrated at other times and across other monitoring stations how sensitive it is to passing radioactive weather patterns, even from an indoor monitoring posture.  When we obtain more information, we will provide a follow-up report.

For future posterity, here is a video by MissingSky101 of the high reading:

6/7/2012 High Geiger counter readings from South Bend, Indiana 7000CPM highest

Source(s): ichicax4, dutchsince
Date: 6/7/2012 about midnight or 1 AM CST

Concerned citizen ichicax4 made a call to the NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Commission) based on an astonishingly high reading from the South Bend, Indiana Geiger counter from radiationnetwork.com, which collects and reports radiation readings from individuals who own Geiger counters and choose to share their readings over the Internet.  Quoting the monitoring network itself from the Alerts section:

Update: 6/6/12, 11:55 P.M. - Very high reading in South Bend, IN station this evening.   Reason unknown.  Station unresponsive to contact at this late hour.  Since this same station has triggered the Alert system before, which Alerts may have been false, and because his current readings do not appear to be corroborated by nearby stations, we have disabled his station for the time being.  Will report back when we know more.

Here is the video from ichicax4 with screen grabs of radiationnetwork.com and a record of her call to the NRC. This took place at approximately 1AM per the video and readings as high as 7000CPM were observed from South Bend, Indiana monitoring station:

Video Description

At time of upload station is reading 7,000 cpm again 1:10 am.

@2:00 am numbers dropped to normal and then went up to 300's...Black Cat is reading hign too in tandem...if this IS a plume this is not from Fuku, it would have set off other detectors west of there from the wind direction in the days prior. This is either a malfunction, or this is a local plant or local event. My next guess would be check military installations in area for activity as well. It should start setting off detectors south/southeast in the next few hours, if its real. I will be calling the NRC back in the a.m. There are several other nuke plants N/NW/W that need to be checked too if it continues.

Anyone local with a geiger please post readings.

Radiation Network: http://radiationnetwork.com/index.htm

Black Cat: http://www.blackcatsystems.com/RadMap/map.html

How close do you live to a nuke plant?http://money.cnn.com/news/specials/nuclear_power_plants_locations/

GOES SAT:
http://www.ssec.wisc.edu/data/geo/index.php?satellite=east&channel=wv&...

Intellicast: http://www.intellicast.com/National/Radar/Current.aspx?animate=true

NRC Event Notification page:
http://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/regulatory/allegations/safety-concern.html

1/19/2011 Radiation Alert from Taos, New Mexico

Source: Radiation Network
Date: 1/19/2010 11:30 AM

[Editor's Note: Copy and pasted from the site since the URL presents a continuous page with no breaks.]

[...]

Update: 1/19/12, 11:30 A.M. - Radiation Alert from Taos

On January 18th, at about 5:48 PM local time, the Nokaoi station in the Taos area of New Mexico broadcast a Radiation Alert over the Network.  See the graph at right, depicting elevated readings averaging over 100 CPM (Counts per Minute) for a sustained period of about 20 minutes, then subsiding to near normal background levels of about 60 to 70 CPM.

For context, the station is operating the Inspector Geiger counter, which is a high count rate model built around an ultra-sensitive pancake style Geiger- Mueller tube.  Between that high count rate, and the high elevation of Taos at 7,300 feet, their background count of about 60 CPM is therefore considered normal.

During the alert period, the station reports they were monitoring indoors on the second floor of an adobe structure, with the instrument sitting on the bed, monitoring the environment only - no specific materials were being scanned at the time.  A few minutes of outdoor monitoring preceded the graphed activity shown above, which readings were also elevated.  It was neither raining nor snowing at the time, and the wind was still, against relatively clear skies, although the station reported a "heavy orange cloud" on the western horizon at dusk, reminiscent of an LA sunset that is color enhanced by smog.

So what was the cause?  In short, we don't know, but the fact that the elevated radiation levels were sustained for many minutes, versus a momentary spike, and then fell back to normal levels, tends to rule out a false alert that our network occasionally generates from an instrument glitch or the like.  A jet stream map from last evening located the flow too far north to be a factor, its southern edge dipping down only as far as Colorado.  Did the orange cloud somehow relate to the elevated radiation levels?  Was there a passing radioactive "plume" from Japan?  Or perhaps a downwind release from Los Alamos National Lab to the west?  These are speculative questions only.  A greater number of Monitoring Stations would provide a chance to corroborate readings, so that must be the continuing mission of the Radiation Network.

[...]

Visit here for the radiation network map

7/18/2011 Did you hear about the alert at Illinois' Dresden Nuclear Plant?

Source: examiner.com (Chicago, IL)
Date: 7/18/2011
by: Cynthia Hodges

Dresden Nuclear Plant in Illinois Credits: Google Images

July 18, 2011   On Friday, the Dresden Nuclear Power Plant located 60 miles southwest of Chicago declared an Alert at 10:16 a.m after a chemical leak restricted access to a vital area that houses plant cooling water pumps. The material leaked was sodium hypochlorite, a chemical similar to bleach which is routinely used in plants to treat water.

According to the few mentions of the incident, there was no known impact to the public health and safety and the environment.

Dresden Nuclear Power Plant in Morris, Illinios is owned and operated by Exelon Corp. located in Chicago.
...
Read full article here

Editor's Note: The emergency was cleared on the same day it was issued. Per the NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Commission) event notification report:

...
* * * UPDATE AT 1626 EDT ON 7/15/11 FROM MIROCHNA TO HUFFMAN * * *

"The alert has been terminated on 7/15/11 at 1520 CDT. The conditions which caused the alert no longer exist. A press release was made for the event. Two employees were sent for offsite medical attention as a precautionary measure; neither employee was contaminated."

The licensee stated that the sodium hypochlorite had leaked from a pipe into a sump under the storage trailer near the cribhouse. The sodium hypochlorite that leaked into the sump has been pumped out. Access to the cribhouse has been restored and there are no other access restrictions at the site. Both units continue to operate at full power.
...

Below is a map of Dresden Nuclear Generating Station. Note that not all U.S. nuclear power plants appear on this map, only ones with unusual recent activity or known safety issues (that the editor knows about).

View Live Ustream Radiation Detectors in a larger map