• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.8-14
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• 2019

Background: Management of an agricultural food product system following a nuclear accident is indispensable for reducing radiation exposure due to ingestion of contaminated food. The present study analyzes the effect of agricultural countermeasures on ingestion dose following a nuclear accident. Materials and Methods: Agricultural countermeasures suitable for domestic farming environments were selected by referring to the countermeasures applied after the Fukushima accident in Japan. The avertable ingestion doses that could be obtained by implementing the selected countermeasures were calculated using the Korean Agricultural Countermeasure Analysis Program (K-ACAP) to investigate the efficiency of each countermeasure. Results and Discussion: Of the selected countermeasures, the management of crops was effective when radionuclide deposition occurred during the growing season of plants. Treatment by soil additive and topsoil removal was effective when deposition occurred during the nongrowing season of plants. The disposal of milk was not effective owing to the small contribution of milk to the overall ingestion dose. Clean feeding of livestock was effective when deposition occurred during the growing season of fodder plants such as pasture and rice-straw. Finally, the effect of food restriction increased with the soil deposition density of radionuclide. The practical effect of countermeasures was very small when the avertable ingestion dose was absolutely low. Conclusion: The agricultural countermeasures selected to reduce the radionuclide ingestion dose after a nuclear accident must be made appropriate by considering the accident situation, such as the soil deposition density of the radionuclide and the deposition date in relation to farming cycles.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.165-170
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• 2002

Combined with deposition model onto the ground of radionuclides, the influence of radioactive contamination to agricultural products was analyzed due to wet deposition as well as dry deposition from radioactive air concentration during a nuclear emergency. The previous dynamic food chain model, in which initial input parameter is only radionuclide concentrations on the ground, was improved for the evaluating of radioactive contamination to agricultural products from either radionuclide concentrations in air or radionuclide concentrations on the ground. As the results, in case of deposition onto the ground, wet deposition was more dominant process than thy deposition. While the contamination levels of agricultural products were dependent on the a variety of factors such as radionuclides and rainfall rate. It means that the contamination levels of agricultural products are determined from which is more dominant process between deposition on the ground and interception onto agricultural plants.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.101-107
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• 2020

Background: An important lesson learned from the Fukushima accident is that the transition to the mid- and long-term phases from the emergency-response phase requires less than a year, which is not very long. It is necessary to know how much radioactive material has been deposited in an urban area to establish mid- and long-term countermeasures after a radioactive accident. Therefore, an urban deposition model that can indicate the site-specific characteristics must be developed. Materials and Methods: In this study, the generalized urban deposition velocity and the subsequent variation in radionuclide contamination were estimated based on the characteristics of the Korean urban environment. Furthermore, the application of the obtained generalized deposition velocity in a hypothetical scenario was investigated. Results and Discussion: The generalized deposition velocities of ¹³⁷Cs, ¹⁰⁶Ru, and ¹³¹I for each residence type were obtained using three-dimensional (3D) modeling. For all residence types, the deposition velocities of ¹³¹I are greater than those of ¹⁰⁶Ru and ¹³⁷Cs. In addition, we calculated the generalized deposition velocities for each residential types. Iodine was the most deposited nuclide during initial deposition. However, the concentration of iodine in urban environment drastically decreases owing to its relatively shorter half-life than ¹⁰⁶Ru and ¹³⁷Cs. Furthermore, the amount of radioactive material deposited in nonresidential areas, especially in parks and schools, is more than that deposited in residential areas. Conclusion: In this study, the generalized urban deposition velocities and the subsequent deposition changes were estimated for the Korean urban environment. The 3D modeling was performed for each type of urban residential area, and the average deposition velocity was obtained and applied to a hypothetical accident. Based on the estimated deposition velocities, the decision-making systems can be improved for responding to radioactive contamination in urban areas. Furthermore, this study can be useful to predict the radiological dose in case of large-scale urban contamination and can support decision-making for long-term measurement after nuclear accident.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.351-359
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• 1995

In order to investigate geochemical behaviors of artificial radionuclide($^{137}$ Cs), the fallout deposition of arificial radioisotope($^{137}$ Cs) was measured from May to October in 1994 at the Korea Ocean Research & Development Institute(KORDI), Ansan, Kyunggido, Korea. And to study radioisotopic behavior and cumulative action in soil, soil samples were collected from Kwang-Leung Forest, Kyunggidom and artificial radioisotope ($^{137}$ Cs) and natural radioisotope($^{210}$ Pb) were identified. The amount of $^{137}$ Cs in atmosphere collected by wet deposition process in May was found to be 4.95 to 11.96mBq m$^{-2}$ whereas the amounts of $^{137}$ Cs by dry deposition process in May and October were found to be 4.0mBq g$^{-1}$ and 3.0mBq g$^{-1}$ , respectively. The amount of $^{137}$ Cs accumulated in soil was measured to be 311mBq cm$^{-2}$ , which contained 83% of the total inputs from atmospheric fallout (374 mBq cm$^{-2}$ ) since 1960s. In addition, the accumulation rate and the annual flux of $^{210}$ Pb into soils were 0.32cm yr$^{-1}$ and 34 mBq cm$^{-2}$ yr$^{-1}$ , respectively. Conclusively, it was found that arificial radioisotopes were mainly from the stratosphere and soil resupension of continental China through the troposphere.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.73-90
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• 2004

The Reg. Guide 1.109 model was reviewed against its applicability to calculating radionuclide concentrations in agricultural products for operating nuclear facilities and an improved method was proposed. The model was so modified that the radionuclides deposited since the start of operation could be considered in assessing the root uptake. Translocation factors were introduced in the equation for calculating the concentrations in edible parts due to direct plant deposition. Values specific to Korea were set up for the input parameters of the modified model. The concentrations of $^{54}Mn,\;^{60}Co,\;^{90}Sr\;and\;^{137}Cs$ in rice seeds, Chinese cabbage and radish root were calculated for various hypothetical deposition histories using the Reg. Guide 1.109 model and the modified model with parameter values in the guide and those specific to Korea put in alternately. Through comparisons among the results, it could be expected that the use of the modified model with the input of parameter values specific to Korea would result In a more resonable and realistic assessment.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.199-208
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• 1994

The derived intervention levels in Korean foodstuffs were estimated using the dynamic ingestion pathway model which was developed considering Korean environment. The derived intervention levels were estimated from the intervention level of dose based on the thyroid committed dose equivalent of infant in the case of I-131, and the whole body committed dose equivalent for age groups and 13 kinds foodstuffs in the cases of Cs-137 and Sr-90. The derived intervention levels were shown as a considerable variation with deposition time and radionuclide. The adult was the most important age group in the estimation of derived intervention levels for Cs-137 and Sr-90. In the adult, the derived intervention levels for rice were 2390 and 47 Bq/kg for Cs-137 and Sr-90 in the case of deposition in summer, respectively, and 198 and 79 Bq/kg in the case of deposition in winter, respectively.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.209-221
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• 1994

In the case of a severe accident of a nuclear power plant, the whole body dose and the relative importance of the radionuclides during the lifetime of an exposed person were estimated for each exposure pathway with distances from the release point. The external exposure pathways due to immersion of radioactive cloud and deposition of radioactive materials on the ground, and the internal exposure pathways due to inhalation and ingestion of contaminated foodstuffs were considered. The effects due to the ingestion of contaminated foodstuffs were estimated considering the variation of radioactive concentration in the foodstuffs according to deposition time and elapsed time after deposition using a dynamic ingestion pathway model applicable to Korean environment, named 'KORFOOD'. As the results up to 80 km from the release point, the effects due to ingestion of contaminated foodstuffs showed the highest contribution to total exposure dose. The contribution of I isotopes was the highest in the case of the external dose due to immersion of radioactive cloud and internal dose due to inhalation. The contribution of Cs isotopes was highest in the case of the external dose due to deposition of radioactive materials on the ground. In the case of the internal dose due to ingestion of contaminated foodstuffs, Cs deposition in summer and Sr deposition in winter, respectively, were the most dominant radionuclide to whole body.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.304-310
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• 1997

In greenhouse, a mixed solution of Mn-54, Co-60, Sr-85 and Cs-137 was applied to the soil of culture boxes 2 days before sowing cucumber and at 4 different times during its growth for measuring their transfer factors (TFs) for fruit and migration in soil. TFs varied with radionuclide, application time and harvest time by factor of up to about 60. Variations in TFs with application time showed different patterns among radionuclides. TFs decreased on the whole in the order of Sr-85 > Mn-54 > Co-60 > Cs-137. TFs of Mn-54, Co-60 and Cs-137 mixed with topsoil before sowing were a little higher than those for the soil-surface application made at an early growth stage while no difference in Sr-85 TF was found. After harvest, soil concentrations of the radionuclides applied at an early growth stage were examined. They decreased with increasing soil depth and 80${\sim}$99% of the radioactivity remained in the top 3cm. Soil pemeation of the radionuclides migration decreased in the order of Sr-85 > Mn-54 > Co-60 > Cs-137. The present data can be utilized in estimating radionuclide concentration in cucumber fruit, taking proper measures for its harvest and consumption and designing the best way of soil decontamination following an radioactive deposition during the cucummber growing season.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.21-30
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• 2000

For analyzing the direct contamination pathway of radionudides in rice plants, a Solution containing $^{54}Mn,\;^{57}Co,\;^{85}Sr,\;^{103}Ru$ and $^{134}Cs$ was applied to the aboveground Parts of the between RI application and harvest. Its highest observed value was 0.94. The fractions of the initial plant deposition that remained in rice plants at harvest were in the range of $19{\sim}47%,\;17{\sim}43%,\;19{\sim}42%,\;23{\sim}61%$ and $11{\sim}69%$ for $^{54}Mn,\;^{57}Co,\;^{85}Sr,\;^{103}Ru$ and $^{134}Cs$, respectively, when no decay was assumed. The translocation factors of those radionuclides in hulled seeds were in the range of $6.9{\times}10^{-4}3.8{\times}10^{-2},\;3.6{\times}10^{-3}{\sim}1.6{\times}10^{-1},\;5.8{\times}10^{-4}{\sim}3.2{\sim}10^{-2},\;1.6{\times}10^{-4}{\sim}7.6{\times}10^{-3}$ and $3.2{\times}10^{-2}{\sim}2.0{\times}10^{-1}$, respertively, and were highest when they were applied at the stage of active seed development. It was indicated that the remaining percentage and translocation factor would not be greatly affected by the difference in the rain frequency if it is within a factor of 2. These results can be utilzed for predicting the radionuclide concentrations in rice seeds when an accidental deposition of those radionuclides occurs during the rice-growing season.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.65-72
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• 1999

A methodology for determining the optimal durations of the use of contaminated crops as feedstuffs of cattle was designed based on the cost-benefit analysis method. The results of application for pigs, an omnivorous cattle, were discussed for the hypothetical deposition of radionuclides on August 15 when a number of crops are fully developed in Korean agricultural conditions. For investigating the relative cost-effectiveness of the use of contaminated crops as feedstuffs, the net benefit was compared with the case of the direct disposal of contaminated crops. The time-dependent radionuclide concentration in crops after the deposition was predicted using a dynamic food chain model DYNACON. The net benefit from the actions was quantitatively evaluated in terms of cost equivalent of doses and monetary costs of implementing the action. It depended on a number of factors such as radionuclides, variety of crops supplied as feedstuffs and duration of the actions. The use of contaminated crops as feedstuffs was more cost effective for $^{90}Sr\;or\;^{131}I$ deposition than for $^{137}Cs$ deposition.