The Radnote network is providing crucial surge capacity and enhancing the resiliency of radiation monitoring in wartime Ukraine, meanwhile establishing a new paradigm for citizen participation in emergency response.  

Tokyo, Japan (January 29, 2026)– Safecast is pleased to announce that our Radnote solar-powered realtime radiation sensors have now been certified for official use in Ukraine. This is a milestone moment not only for us and our partners in this project, SaveDnipro and Blues, but for citizen science overall, as it the first time that an independent radiation sensor system has been been accepted by official bodies for public health hazard monitoring. Radnote data can now be shared through official notification channels.  

 
Safecast began partnering with the Ukrainian environmental NGO Save Dnipro shortly after the start of the Russian full-scale invasion in February, 2022, to provide citizen radiation monitoring capability in the wake of reckless attacks and occupation of the Chornobyl and Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plants. Mobile radiation monitoring using Safecast bGeigies was established quickly, and the need for fixed real-time monitoring was soon apparent. The Radnote was developed by Blues with just such challenging deployment scenarios in mind. After a year of testing, deployment of the Radnote network in Ukraine began in May, 2024 . It has proven to be a game-changer.  

Thanks to its intelligent self-contained design, the Radnote can be simply strapped in place and powered on. It will automatically connect to an available cellular system and begin sending data unattended. Because it is solar-powered it is not affected by the electricity outages caused by Russian attacks on the Ukrainian power grid. Thanks to the configurable low-power design of the Blues’ device-to-cloud system, it is able to stay online and send data in situations where many other sensor systems have failed. It has proven remarkably reliable in harsh sub-zero temperatures as well. 

The certification testing for Ukraine was thorough and time-consuming, and confirmed the Radnote’s reliability and ruggedness. We are grateful to the experts at DOE/NNSA who encouraged us to seek this certification and provided valuable advice regarding the process. They understand that our Radnote network is providing crucial surge capacity and enhancing the resiliency of radiation monitoring in wartime Ukraine, meanwhile establishing a new paradigm for citizen participation in emergency response. 

Azby Brown, Safecast lead researcher, said: “The RADNOTE does not suffer from certain vulnerabilities exhibited by official monitoring systems. It is ideally suited to this kind of deployment as a supplementary backup system likely to stay online and collect data when other systems have failed.”

Pavlo Tkachenko, technical director of SaveDnipro, said: “Each unit is clearly labeled with QR codes for access to data and project information. Our partners appreciate that we developed an easy-to-use mounting system for use on walls as well as on poles. All hardware is provided in the installation kit. As word has spread about how simple and reliable the Radnote system is, we have been getting more and more requests from people and organizations all over Ukraine.”

Ray Ozzie, founder of Blues, said: “We are tremendously pleased that the Blues Notecard and Notehub - the system used for Radnote's communications - is making this critical monitoring network possible.”

At present 69 Radnotes have been deployed across Ukraine, primarily near nuclear facilities and in population centers. The data can be seen on the SaveEcoBot online map. 14 more units have been shipped to their deployment sites and will be online in the coming weeks, which will bring the number to 83. More will be deployed in the coming year, with 40 additional units soon to be shipped to Ukraine. This has been an ambitious and unprecedented project, and its success is entirely due to the steady efforts of the many volunteers in Ukraine who have braved tremendous wartime hazards and hardships to get the network up and running. 

This project is supported by donations. Additional funding is needed for mounting equipment, shipping costs, and technical support.               
The Safecast donation page is here. Our online store is here.

Ends.

About Safecast: 

Safecast is an international volunteer driven non-profit organization established after the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, and the subsequent meltdown of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. Safecast quickly began monitoring, collecting, and openly sharing information on environmental radiation, rapidly growing into a global organization. Our mission is to provide citizens worldwide with the tools they need to inform themselves by gathering and sharing accurate environmental data in an open and participatory fashion. All Safecast data is published, free of charge, into the public domain under a CC0 designation. Safecast has pioneered an innovative model of rapid integrated development, including hardware design, software design, engineering and science, visual design and communication, and social design factors. From the start we have embraced open-source and open-data methodologies. Safecast has enabled people across the globe to easily monitor their homes and environments, and to free themselves of dependence on government and other institutions for this kind of essential information. We are proud to be playing a major role in the emergence of technically competent citizen science efforts worldwide. For more information, visit safecast.org .

Media Contact: Azby Brown, Safecast Lead Researcher, Email: azby@safecast.org   info@safecast.org 

About Blues: 
Blues is the cheat code to creating smart connected products. By eliminating complexity, Blues helps organizations to focus on what matters most: growing their business. 

Blues’ device-to-cloud system combines plug-and-play hardware, data routing, and fleet management into a single, integrated platform. Customers use Blues to instantly, securely, and economically move data from physical products to their applications – without building or managing complex infrastructure. Blues’ flagship products – Notecard, Starnote and Notehub – work together to help customers accelerate the creation of smart connected products and field data-driven intelligent services. 

Companies across transportation and logistics, commercial buildings and facilities, industrial equipment, energy and environmental monitoring, and more, go from concept to business impact faster, enabling new services, reducing operations costs, and scaling alongside their customers. 

Thousands of organizations worldwide, from nonprofits to startups to enterprises, connect their devices with Blues. For more information, visit blues.com, and follow Blues on LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, and Threads. 

Media Contact: Emma Wimberley, Vice President, Marketing, Email: ewimberley@blues.com  

About SaveDnipro:

SaveDnipro is a Ukrainian environmental non-governmental organization working to protect citizens’ rights to a clean and safe environment through transparency, open data, and civic engagement. Since 2018, SaveDnipro has developed and operates SaveEcoBot, Ukraine’s largest independent public environmental information system, providing real-time access to air quality, radiation monitoring, water quality, and other environmental data via maps, websites, chatbots, and APIs. Following the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, SaveDnipro played a critical role in maintaining public access to radiation information during periods when official data was unavailable or restricted, coordinating citizen-science monitoring networks and partnerships with international organizations. SaveDnipro’s work demonstrates how independent, open, and resilient monitoring systems can complement state infrastructure – especially during wartime and other emergencies.

Media Contact: Pavlo Tkachenko, Technical Director, Email: pavlo@savednipro.org 

Notes to editors:

SaveEcoBot online map here 

More information here

Photos available here

SaveEcoBot website here

Safecast website here

Blues Inc. website here 

Original Safecast press release here

The Radnote network is providing crucial surge capacity and enhancing the resiliency of radiation monitoring in wartime Ukraine, meanwhile establishing a new paradigm for citizen participation in emergency response.  

Tokyo, Japan (January 29, 2026)– Safecast is pleased to announce that our Radnote solar-powered realtime radiation sensors have now been certified for official use in Ukraine. This is a milestone moment not only for us and our partners in this project, SaveDnipro and Blues, but for citizen science overall, as it the first time that an independent radiation sensor system has been been accepted by official bodies for public health hazard monitoring. Radnote data can now be shared through official notification channels.  

 
Safecast began partnering with the Ukrainian environmental NGO Save Dnipro shortly after the start of the Russian full-scale invasion in February, 2022, to provide citizen radiation monitoring capability in the wake of reckless attacks and occupation of the Chornobyl and Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plants. Mobile radiation monitoring using Safecast bGeigies was established quickly, and the need for fixed real-time monitoring was soon apparent. The Radnote was developed by Blues with just such challenging deployment scenarios in mind. After a year of testing, deployment of the Radnote network in Ukraine began in May, 2024 . It has proven to be a game-changer.  

Thanks to its intelligent self-contained design, the Radnote can be simply strapped in place and powered on. It will automatically connect to an available cellular system and begin sending data unattended. Because it is solar-powered it is not affected by the electricity outages caused by Russian attacks on the Ukrainian power grid. Thanks to the configurable low-power design of the Blues’ device-to-cloud system, it is able to stay online and send data in situations where many other sensor systems have failed. It has proven remarkably reliable in harsh sub-zero temperatures as well. 

The certification testing for Ukraine was thorough and time-consuming, and confirmed the Radnote’s reliability and ruggedness. We are grateful to the experts at DOE/NNSA who encouraged us to seek this certification and provided valuable advice regarding the process. They understand that our Radnote network is providing crucial surge capacity and enhancing the resiliency of radiation monitoring in wartime Ukraine, meanwhile establishing a new paradigm for citizen participation in emergency response. 

Azby Brown, Safecast lead researcher, said: “The RADNOTE does not suffer from certain vulnerabilities exhibited by official monitoring systems. It is ideally suited to this kind of deployment as a supplementary backup system likely to stay online and collect data when other systems have failed.”

Pavlo Tkachenko, technical director of SaveDnipro, said: “Each unit is clearly labeled with QR codes for access to data and project information. Our partners appreciate that we developed an easy-to-use mounting system for use on walls as well as on poles. All hardware is provided in the installation kit. As word has spread about how simple and reliable the Radnote system is, we have been getting more and more requests from people and organizations all over Ukraine.”

Ray Ozzie, founder of Blues, said: “We are tremendously pleased that the Blues Notecard and Notehub - the system used for Radnote's communications - is making this critical monitoring network possible.”

At present 69 Radnotes have been deployed across Ukraine, primarily near nuclear facilities and in population centers. The data can be seen on the SaveEcoBot online map. 14 more units have been shipped to their deployment sites and will be online in the coming weeks, which will bring the number to 83. More will be deployed in the coming year, with 40 additional units soon to be shipped to Ukraine. This has been an ambitious and unprecedented project, and its success is entirely due to the steady efforts of the many volunteers in Ukraine who have braved tremendous wartime hazards and hardships to get the network up and running. 

This project is supported by donations. Additional funding is needed for mounting equipment, shipping costs, and technical support.               
The Safecast donation page is here. Our online store is here.

Ends.

About Safecast: 

Safecast is an international volunteer driven non-profit organization established after the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, and the subsequent meltdown of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. Safecast quickly began monitoring, collecting, and openly sharing information on environmental radiation, rapidly growing into a global organization. Our mission is to provide citizens worldwide with the tools they need to inform themselves by gathering and sharing accurate environmental data in an open and participatory fashion. All Safecast data is published, free of charge, into the public domain under a CC0 designation. Safecast has pioneered an innovative model of rapid integrated development, including hardware design, software design, engineering and science, visual design and communication, and social design factors. From the start we have embraced open-source and open-data methodologies. Safecast has enabled people across the globe to easily monitor their homes and environments, and to free themselves of dependence on government and other institutions for this kind of essential information. We are proud to be playing a major role in the emergence of technically competent citizen science efforts worldwide. For more information, visit safecast.org .

Media Contact: Azby Brown, Safecast Lead Researcher, Email: azby@safecast.org   info@safecast.org 

About Blues: 
Blues is the cheat code to creating smart connected products. By eliminating complexity, Blues helps organizations to focus on what matters most: growing their business. 

Blues’ device-to-cloud system combines plug-and-play hardware, data routing, and fleet management into a single, integrated platform. Customers use Blues to instantly, securely, and economically move data from physical products to their applications – without building or managing complex infrastructure. Blues’ flagship products – Notecard, Starnote and Notehub – work together to help customers accelerate the creation of smart connected products and field data-driven intelligent services. 

Companies across transportation and logistics, commercial buildings and facilities, industrial equipment, energy and environmental monitoring, and more, go from concept to business impact faster, enabling new services, reducing operations costs, and scaling alongside their customers. 

Thousands of organizations worldwide, from nonprofits to startups to enterprises, connect their devices with Blues. For more information, visit blues.com, and follow Blues on LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, and Threads. 

Media Contact: Emma Wimberley, Vice President, Marketing, Email: ewimberley@blues.com  

About SaveDnipro:

SaveDnipro is a Ukrainian environmental non-governmental organization working to protect citizens’ rights to a clean and safe environment through transparency, open data, and civic engagement. Since 2018, SaveDnipro has developed and operates SaveEcoBot, Ukraine’s largest independent public environmental information system, providing real-time access to air quality, radiation monitoring, water quality, and other environmental data via maps, websites, chatbots, and APIs. Following the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, SaveDnipro played a critical role in maintaining public access to radiation information during periods when official data was unavailable or restricted, coordinating citizen-science monitoring networks and partnerships with international organizations. SaveDnipro’s work demonstrates how independent, open, and resilient monitoring systems can complement state infrastructure – especially during wartime and other emergencies.

Media Contact: Pavlo Tkachenko, Technical Director, Email: pavlo@savednipro.org 

Notes to editors:

SaveEcoBot online map here 

More information here

Photos available here

SaveEcoBot website here

Safecast website here

Blues Inc. website here 

Original Safecast press release here