• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.299-309
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• 2003

In an accidental release of radioactive materials to the environment the contaminative influence of animal products due to the inhalation of air and the ingestion of soil of livestock, both of which are dealt with as minor contaminative pathways in most radioecological models but may not be neglected, was investigated with the improvement of the Korean dynamic food chain model DYNACON Although mathematical models for both contaminative pathways have been established for considering all animal products and incorporated into the model, investigation was limited to milk. As a result, it was found that both pathways are influential in the contamination of milk in the case of an accidental release during the non-grazing period of dairy cows. In the case of an accidental release during the non-grazing period, the inhalation of air was more influential than the ingestion of soil in the early days following an accidental release. While, it was the opposite with the lapse of time. If precipitation is encountered during an accidental release, contaminative influence due to the ingestion of soil was greater compared with the cases of no precipitation, in general, because of a stealer deposition of radionuclides onto the ground. Precipitation during an accidental release was a less influential factor in $^{131}I$ (elemental iodine) contamination compared with the $^{137}Cs\;and\;^{90}Sr$ contaminations. In the case of an accidental release during the grazing period of dairy cows, the contaminative influence due to the inhalation of air was negligible.