[Estimation of radiation exposed area by the nuclear accident occurred at Tokai village using ESR measurements of household sugar].
The area of radiation exposure by the nuclear accident occurred at Tokai village in 1999 was estimated by the ESR measurement of 95 household sugar samples collected from the accident area. These samples were roughly classified into three types of sugar, fine white sugar, fine brown sugar and coarse brown sugar. The control fine white sugar showed no radical in the ESR spectrum, while those of fine brown sugar and coarse brown sugar showed the presence of a small amount of radicals. It was also shown that, among these three kinds of sugar, the radical concentration of fine white sugar sampled from wooden houses at the area similar to each other did not vary much with the samples, while those of fine brown sugar and coarse brown sugar varied to a considerable extent. Thus, the fine white sugar is considered to be more suitable for the estimation of the level of radiation exposure. The radical concentration of each fine white sugar sample was plotted against the distance from the site of the nuclear accident with a correction of the difference in the shielding effect between concrete houses and wooden houses. The samples obtained at more than 2 km north of the site of nuclear accident showed no ESR spectral signal to a detectable extent. On the other hand, the ESR spectra were observed from the samples obtained within 10 km south and 4 km west of the accident site. These results suggest that the radiation exposure by the contaminant blown by the northeast wind blowing on the day of the accident may occur at the south and west areas.