BRAS Physics / Supplement Physics of Vibrations Vol. 61, No.4, pp.260-266 1997 IMPACT OF RADIOACTIVE CONTAMINATION ON ELECTRIC CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ATMOSPHERE. NEW REMOTE MONITORING TECHNIQUE K.A. B<;>yarchuk and A.M. Lomonosov General Physics Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, 38 Vavilov Street, Moscow 117942, Russia S.A. Pulinets and V.V. Hegai Institute of Terrestrial Magnetism, Ionosphere, and Radiowave Propagation, 142092 Troitsk, Moscow Region, Russia (Received December 15, 1997) A new method is considered for remote sensing of radioactive con- tamination in the atmosphere. The method is based on an anomalous response of ionospheric characteristics on the significant variations in an electric field near the Earth's surface, caused by the atmosphere ionization. The feasibility to use satellites for global monitoring of radioactive contamination is shown. PACS: 28.52.Nh, 87.52.En, 89.60.+x, 92.60.Ta 1. Introduction Nuclear power industry should become a main energy source of the 21st century, although this did not happen in the 20th one due to a number of reasons, first of all due to a sufficient amount of cheap petroleum and gas at the world market, emergencies at atomic power plants that gave rise to social distrust, and a lack of convincing safety concepts. Therefore, as the part of atomic plants increases in the power production, the de- velopment of new efficient methods for detecting and monitoring radioactive contamination of the environment becomes increasingly urgent. At normal operation, atomic plants virtually do not exhaust products that cause significant radioactive precipitation. However, serious ex- ceptions are the emergencies at nuclear reactors and plants, for example in Windscale (Great Britain) in 1957, Three-Mile-Island (USA) in ©1998 by Allerton Press, Inc. 1979, and the world greatest emergency at Cher- nobyl in 1986 (the former Soviet Union) [1]. The basic impact of radioactive fission prod- ucts on the environment is its ionization [2] changing electric properties of air [3,4]. Hence, the problem of remote detection and identifica- tion of radioactive contamination by disturbed atmosphere electric characteristics seems to be of interest. 2. Model of an exhaust radioactive cloud In the case of emergency at a nuclear plant, a great amount of radioactive particles, vapors, and ashes can be exhausted to the height of 1-2 km. For instance, the most powerful out- flow of radioactive products from the Chernobyl plant unit was within the first two or three days Authorization to photocopy individual items for internal or personal use, or the internal or personal use of specific clienta, i. granted by Allerton Preu, Inc. for libra.ries a.nd other ulera regiltered with the Copyright Clea.rance Center (CCe) Tra.nsa.ctional Reporting Service, provided tha.t the baBe fee of $50.00 per copy i. paid direcUy to CCC, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923. 260