SOUTH BEND – Some of you were very concerned early Thursday after an online radiation company reported readings that radiation levels were at a catastrophic level in South Bend.
It turns out Radiation Network's reading was a mistake, thanks to an equipment malfunction.
Tim Flanegin, owner of MineraLab, the company that runs Radiation Network, said it was a false alarm.
"My apologies to all. I have no idea what caused this. The alert level reading (Wednesday) evening appears to be a false alert from an equipment malfunction," said Flanegin. “We use some form of radiation almost everyday. We count on it for medicine, the sciences, communication and cooking.”
Too much, though, is a bad thing. In fact – it's dangerous.
Radiation Network, which keeps an eye on counts across the country, issued a reading that radiation levels here were at a catastrophic level.
That got people's attention.
“After that first call, another woman called, saying that she lives in Texas, she tracks it,” said WSBT News Producer Ashley Henderson. "She's wondering what's going on there."
Nearly a dozen people called and emailed Henderson. Most of them were worried.
"I'm really the only person here doing the show and there's not a lot I can do to figure this out," said Henderson. "He (the caller) said you can't wait that long – this is an emergency. You can't wait to see what's going on."
Turns out, it was all a mistake.
We called the Environmental Protection Agency and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. People there told us there's no indication from their inspectors that there has been a radiation release. Nothing appears out of the ordinary. A spokesperson from the EPA told us Radiation Network's information does not feature EPA data. All of their readings came back normal.
