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Initial effect of the Fukushima accident on atmospheric electricity
Author(s) -
Takeda M.,
Yamauchi M.,
Makino M.,
Owada T.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2011gl048511
Subject(s) - nuclear power plant , environmental science , potential gradient , altitude (triangle) , atmospheric electricity , radioactive fallout , atmospheric sciences , meteorology , geology , electric field , physics , nuclear physics , chemistry , radiochemistry , geometry , mathematics , quantum mechanics
Vertical atmospheric DC electric field at ground level, or potential gradient (PG), suddenly dropped by one order of magnitude at Kakioka, 150 km southwest from the Fukushima Dai‐ichi nuclear power plant (FNPP) right after the plant released a massive amount of radioactive material southward on 14 March, 2011. The PG stayed at this level for days with very small daily variations. Such a long‐lasting near‐steady low PG has never been observed at Kakioka. The sudden drop of PG with one‐hour time scale is similar to those associated with rain‐induced radioactive fallout after nuclear tests and the Chernobyl disaster. A comparison with the PG data with the radiation dose rate data at different places revealed that arrival of the radioactive dust by low‐altitude wind caused the PG drop without rain. Furthermore, the PG might have reflected a minor release several hours before this release at the distance of 150 km. It is recommended that all nuclear power plant to have a network of PG observation surrounding the plant.