SHETLAND ISLANDS, SCOTLAND — According to a study published in Physical Review Letters, the electric charge from radioactivity caused by atomic testing during the Cold War caused a rise in precipitation on the Shetland Islands in Scotland.<br /><br />During the Cold War, radioactive pollution from American and Soviet Union atomic testing sites in the 1960s spread across the atmosphere.<br /><br />Specialists from the Reading, Bath and Bristol universities participating in the study used information from bomb tests and records from the United Kingdom's national weather service to determine the long-term effects of bomb radioactivity.<br /><br />According to data gathered from a research station in Scotland, experts found that on days when radioactivity was increased, clouds were heavier and rain increased by 24 percent.
