EPA RadNet radiation monitoring system exposed as poorly-maintained, improperly-calibrated failure

Thursday, May 26, 2011 by: Ethan A. Huff, staff writer
Tags: EPA, RadNet, health news

(NaturalNews) Following the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster on March 11, 2011, many Americans turned to the US Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) RadNet monitoring system for up-to-date information about radiation levels in the US. However, it turns out they were unable to get this crucial data because the system is very poorly maintained, routinely suffers from severe calibration issues, and is largely useless as an accurate indicator of radiation threats.

One would think that the US government's primary radiation detection system would at the very least undergo routine maintenance and verification protocols to ensure that the system is working properly. But an inquiry by the University of California, Berkeley (UCB) into a questionable radiation graph released by the EPA revealed that, prior to the Fukushima disaster, at least one detector in the RadNet system was so badly calibrated that it showed much higher radiation levels before the disaster than after it occurred (http://www.nuc.berkeley.edu/node/2371).

As others began to probe the situation further, it was uncovered that a private company, Environmental Dimensions, Inc. (EDI), is actually in charge of maintaining the RadNet system. And the owner of this company, which received a no-bid, sole source maintenance contract, is none other than Patricia S. Bradshaw, former Deputy Under Secretary of Defense appointed by former President George W. Bush.

Why is this significant? Bradshaw's connections to the former administration make her company's government contract a clear conflict of interest. And the fact that her company appears to have negated its responsibilities in properly maintaining the RadNet system prior to the Fukushima disaster is both unacceptable and highly suspicious, considering her previous role.

Many of the RadNet stations across the US were either out of service or not transmitting information to the public during and after the Fukushima disaster. In the days and weeks to follow, many of those same stations continued to supply either no or bogus data. And a review of the EPA RadNet website shows that the normal quarterly reports of station data have not been published since 2009 (http://pstuph.wordpress.com/2011/04/04/epas-...).

Clearly, EDI was not performing its rightful duties as overseers of RadNet. EDI's negligence in this crucial situation is wholly unacceptable, especially since the company reaps in a base payment of $238,000 plus "materials and travel" costs from taxpayers for doing, at best, dismally poor work. At worst, the company has deliberately failed to fulfill its responsibilities in maintaining the RadNet system, and keeping the American people accurately informed about a radioactive fallout situation.

Sources for this story include:

http://pstuph.wordpress.com/2011/04/04/radne...