The year 2022 brought a cynical demonstration of the fact that part of humanity has not yet overcome the barbarism specific to the Middle Ages. This happened through the military incursion of the Russians into the peaceful Ukraine. One thing led to another and not long after, strategic objectives were under fire including Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, one of the biggest NPP’s in the world, raising the danger for another nuclear catastrophe.

At that time we initiated talks with SaveDnipro’s SaveEcoBot on options to increase nuclear radiation monitoring in Ukraine and so we did, shipping out several of our rugged uRADMonitor sensors for field use, that were donated to Ukraine.

Following our commitment in this matter, talks with SaveDnipro advanced to the point where a new player stepped in, in the person of GreenPeace. Radiation protection specialists from GreenPeace were interested in supporting SaveEcoBot’s efforts in Ukraine and so they learned about what we are doing at uRADMonitor. We tried to identify several directions to improve existing radiation monitoring capabilities for scientific purposes and as an early warning system prepared in case the worst happens.

Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by Irving Stowe and Dorothy Stowe, immigrant environmental activists from the United States. Greenpeace states its goal is to “ensure the ability of the Earth to nurture life in all its diversity” and focuses its campaigning on worldwide issues such as climate change, deforestation, overfishing, commercial whaling, genetic engineering, and anti-nuclear issues. It uses direct action, lobbying, research, and ecotage to achieve its goals. You can read more on that here.

A new lot of uRADMonitor Model A automated radiation sensors were prepared for Ukraine with GreenPeace support. This lot shipped out recently and will eventually arrive in Ukraine to be installed by SaveDnipro. The data will be integrated automatically in SaveEcoBot.

Some of the existing devices were installed in very difficult conditions. SaveDnipro reached cities, some right on the front line while other sensors got in remote locations like this model A unit installed in Chernobyl. The data is available in real time here.

Azby Brown via Safecast also pledged support for improving radiation monitoring capabilities in Ukraine. Safecast is an international, volunteer-centered organization devoted to open citizen science for environmental monitoring, established by Sean Bonner, Pieter Franken, and Joi Ito shortly after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in Japan.

The current sensors operating in Ukraine are visible on the SaveEcoBot platform and on the uRADMonitor portal: