• Title/Summary/Keyword: radioactive contamination

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Assessment of Microbial and Radioactive Contaminations in Korean Cold Duck Meats and Electron-Beam Application for Quality Improvement

  • An, Kyung-A;Jo, Yunhee;Arshad, Muhammad Sajid;Kim, Gui-Ran;Jo, Cheorun;Kwon, Joong-Ho
    • Food Science of Animal Resources
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    • v.37 no.2
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    • pp.297-304
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    • 2017
  • Animal-origin food products pose serious threat to public food safety due to high microbial loads. The microbial and radioactive contaminations in commercial cold duck meat products were evaluated. Ten different lots of commercial samples ($C_1-C_{10}$) were classified based on type and smoking process. All samples were highly contaminated (< 4-7 Log CFU/g) with total aerobic bacteria (TAB), yeasts and molds (Y&M), and 7 samples ($C_1-C_7$) were positive for coliforms. Furthermore, three samples were contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes ($C_4-C_6$) and one with Salmonella typhimurium ($C_6$). No radionuclides ($^{131}I$, $^{137}Cs$, and $^{134}Cs$) were detected in any sample. The results of DEFT (direct epifluorescent filter technique)/APC (aerobic plate count), employed to screen pre-pasteurization treatments of products, indicated that smoked samples were positive showing DEFT/APC ratios higher than 4. Notably, the samples showed a serious threat to microbial safety, thus were irradiated with electron-beam (e-beam). The $D_{10}$ values for S. typhimurium and L. monocytogenes were 0.65 and 0.42 kGy, respectively. E-beam application at 3 and 7 kGy resulted in reduction of initial TAB, Y&M, and coliform populations by 3 and 6 log cycles, respectively. Thus, e-beam was proven to be a good decontamination approach to improve the hygiene of cold duck meat.

Export Strategies Against Decreasing Demand of Fukushima's Agricultural Porducts (후쿠시마산(産) 농산물 수요감소에 대비한 농산물 수출전략)

  • Hong, Gil-Jong
    • Asia-Pacific Journal of Business
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    • v.9 no.2
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    • pp.105-121
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    • 2018
  • In 1995, the WTO started to ease the trade barriers. Globalization has accelerated. The opening of the agricultural products market is rapidly gaining momentum with the conclusion of an FTA. The acceleration of this FTA is expected to be a threat to Korea's agriculture, and a new strategy is needed. At the beginning of the nuclear accident, mainly radioactive materials are found in the surface layer of the soil. Over time, the concentration of the plant gradually increases. After 5 years, it becomes noticeable. In March 2016, it will be five years after the nuclear accident. Radioactive contamination is very likely to occur in agricultural products produced in the Fukushima area at this time. In this period, agricultural products produced in the Fukushima region are expected to generate supply disruptions in Japan, and imports to replace them will increase. Therefore, it is necessary to establish a mid- and long-term strategy for exporting to Japan by analyzing the competitiveness of Korean agricultural products. In this study, standardization index was derived by using agricultural price ratio, TSI, export CAC. Based on this, we analyzed the competitiveness of each item in the Japanese market. The analysis shows that garlic is the most competitive product in the Japanese market. Also, strawberry, tomato, and cucumber were found to be competitive. On the other hand, Kiwi, pineapple, soybean, onion, potato, etc. As a result of the analysis, the following strategies were proposed for the export of agricultural products with high competitiveness. First, it is necessary to develop technology to suppress deterioration of export transportation quality. Second, continuous supply of local consumption pattern information is required. Third, it is necessary to expand exports by processing fresh food. Fourth, it suggested the establishment of export base and strengthening of support system.

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Analysis of Levels of Risk Perception using Psychometric Paradigm and Factors Affecting Concerns about Food Risk Elements of Housewives in Daegu (심리측정 패러다임을 이용한 대구 지역 주부들의 식품 위해요소에 대한 위험 지각 수준 및 우려도에 영향을 미치는 요인 분석)

  • Kim, Hyochung;Han, Jin-Young;Kim, Meera
    • Journal of the East Asian Society of Dietary Life
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    • v.25 no.4
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    • pp.691-702
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    • 2015
  • This study examined the levels of risk perception of food risk elements by adopting a psychometric paradigm and analyzed factors affecting concerns about food risk elements to obtain basic materials for food safety policy. The data were collected from 296 housewives in Daegu, Korea, by a self-administered questionnaire. Frequency distributions, Pearson's correlation coefficient analysis, factor analysis, Cronbach's ${alpha}$, and multiple regression analyses were conducted by SPSS 21.0. The mean level of concern for food safety was 3.75/5.00 points, and the mean percentage of correct answers about heavy metal contamination was highest among food risk elements. The respondents perceived radioactive contaminated foods, GM foods, and endocrine disruptors as a new, delayed, scientifically unknown, involuntary, serious, and uncontrollable risk in risk perception. According to the result of factor analysis for risk perception, two factors such as non-controllability and dread were categorized. In the risk perception map, radioactive contaminated foods and GM foods were considered as an uncontrollable and dreaded risk, heavy metal contamination, endocrine disruptors, and pesticide residues as a controllable and dreaded risk, and foodborne illness and food additives as a controllable and less dreaded risk. On the other hand, the levels of concerns about food risk elements were higher in order of radioactive contaminated foods, GM foods, and endocrine disruptors. The results of multiple regression analysis showed that age, concern for food safety, percentage of correct answers about food risk elements, non-controllability, and dread influenced the concerns about food risk elements. These results imply that food safety policies should consider differences in consumer's risk perception of food risk elements.

Determination of Self-Disposal date by the Analysis of Radioactive Waste Contamination for 1131I Therapy Ward (131I 치료입원실 폐기물 방사능 오염도 분석 및 자체처분가능일자 산출)

  • Kim, Gi-sub;Jung, Haijo;Park, Min-seok;Jeon, Gjin-seong
    • The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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    • v.17 no.1
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    • pp.3-6
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    • 2013
  • Purpose: The treatment of thyroid cancer patients was continuously increased. According to the increment of thyroid cancer patients, the establishment of iodine therapy site was also increased in each hospital. This treatment involves the administration of radioactive iodine, which will be given in the form of a capsule. Therefore, protections and managements for radioactive source pollution and radiation exposure should be necessary for radiation safety. Among the many problems, the problem of disposing the radioactive wastes was occurred. In this study, The date for self-disposal for radioactive wastes, which were contaminated in clothes, bedclothes and trash, were calculated. Materials and Methods: The number of iodine therapy ward was 15 in Korea Institute of Radiological Medical and Sciences. Recently, 8 therapy wards were operated for iodine therapy patients and others were on standby for emergency treatment ward of any radiation accidents. Radioactive wastes, which were occurred in therapy ward, were clothes, bedclothes, bath cover for patients washing water and food and drink which was leftover by patients. Each sample was hold into the marinelli beaker (clothes, bedclothes, bath covers) and 90 ml beaker (food, drink, and washing water). The activities of collected samples were measured by HpGe MCA device (Multi Channel Analysis, CANBERRA, USA) Results: The storage period for the each kind of radioactive wastes was calculated by equation of storage periods based on the measurement outcomes. The average storage period was 60 days for the case of clothes, and the maximum storage period was 93 days for patient bottoms. The average storage period and the maximum storage period for the trash were 69 days and 97 days, respectively. The leftover foods and drinks had short storage period (the average storage period was 25 days and maximum storage period was 39 days), compared with other wastes. Conclusion: The proper storage period for disposing the radioactive waste (clothes, bedclothes and bath cover) was 100 days by the regulation on self-disposal of radioactive waste. In addition, the storage period for disposing the liquid radioactive waste was 120 days. The current regulation for radioactive waste self-disposing was not suitable for the circumstances of each radioactive therapy facility. Therefore, it was necessary to reduce the leftover food and drinks by adequate table setting for patients, and improve the process and regulation for disposing the short-half life radioactive wastes.

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Trends in Technology Development for the Treatment of Radioactive Concrete Waste (방사성 콘크리트 폐기물의 국내외 처리기술 개발 동향)

  • Lee, Keun-Young;Oh, Maengkyo;Kim, Jimin;Lee, Eil-Hee;Kim, Ik-Soo;Kim, Kwang-Wook;Chung, Dong-Yong;Seo, Bum-Kyoung
    • Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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    • v.16 no.1
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    • pp.93-105
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    • 2018
  • In Korea, a huge amount of radioactive concrete waste will be generated through decommissioning of nuclear facilities in the near future; therefore, optimum technology for the treatment of concrete waste should be reviewed thoroughly and the future direction of technology development should be discussed. In this paper, many domestic and foreign examples of generation of radioactive concrete waste were pieced together and the characteristics of radioactive concrete waste were examined. Moreover, we reviewed trends in technology development by analyzing the examples of various studies and practical applications of treatment technologies, such as mechanical decontamination, chemical decontamination, volume reduction, recycling and solidification, and also tried to understand the limitations of existing technologies and determine a direction for technical improvement.

Direction detection technique of radioactive contaminants based on rotating collimator (회전형 콜리메이터 기반 방사능 오염원의 방향탐지 기법)

  • Hwang, Young-Gwan;Song, Keun-Young;Lee, Nam-Ho
    • Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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    • v.24 no.11
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    • pp.1519-1527
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    • 2020
  • AGeneral radiation measuring devices have been developed in the form of spatial dose rate detection devices that measure dose rates to radioactive contaminant and 2D or 3D imaging devices for radioactive contamination information. Each of these radiation detection techniques has advantages. The advantages of both detection devices are necessary to minimize personal injury and rapid decontamination in the area of a radioactive accident. In this paper, we proposed a technique that can measure the dose rate and direction information about the radioactive pollutant source in real time using a detection sensor, a rotating body, and a directional shield for radioactive pollutant detection. The rotational-based detection device is configured to check the dose rate and direction using the location information of the rotator and measurement value. We proposed a measurement technique for vertical and horizontal directions through multiple holes. It was confirmed that the measurement error for direction information was less than 1% when detected in the horizontal direction.

Decontamination of Simulated Test Piece by Dry Ice Pellet Blasting (드라이아이스 펠렛 분사에 의한 모의 시편의 제염)

  • Shin Jin-Myeong;Park Jang-Jin;Yang Myung-Seung
    • Journal of environmental and Sanitary engineering
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    • v.19 no.2
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    • pp.30-36
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    • 2004
  • Dry decontamination technique is required for maintaining nuclear material handling equipment contaminated with highly radioactive material in a hot cell. In order to determine the optimum blasting conditions of dry ice pellet blasting device, the basic experiments have been conducted on the simulated test specimens of four types of metals. The removal efficiency of test piece was evaluated by the XRF analysis and the change of the surface condition before and after blasting. The removal efficiency of cesium on loose contamination was 100% under blasting pressure; 3 kg/$cm^2$, blasting distance; 10 cm, blasting time: 10 sec. In case of fixed contamination, the removal efficiency of cesium was almost 96% under blasting pressure; 4kg/$cm^2$, blasting distance; 10 cm, blasting time; 30 sec.

Radiological Accident and Acute Radiation Syndrome (방사선 사고와 급성 방사선 증후군)

  • Roh, Hyung-Keun
    • Journal of The Korean Society of Clinical Toxicology
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    • v.9 no.2
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    • pp.39-48
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    • 2011
  • In mass casualty situation due to radiological accidents, it is important to start aggressive management with rapid triage decisions. External contamination needs immediate decontamination and internal contamination should be treated with special expertise and equipment to prevent the rapid uptake of radionuclides by target organs. Acute radiation syndrome shows a sequence of events that varies with the severity of the exposure. More severe exposures generally lead to more rapid onset of symptoms and severe clinical findings. After the massive exposure, various systems of the body reflect their severe damages that can lead to death within hours or up to several months. The disease progression has classically been divided into four stages: prodromal, latent, manifest illness, and recovery or death. Three characteristic clusters of symptoms including the hematopoietic syndrome, the gastrointestinal syndrome and the cerebrovascular syndrome are all associated with the acute radiation syndrome. The standard medical management of the patients with a potentially survivable radiation exposure includes good medical, surgical and supportive measures. Specific treatment with cytokines and bone marrow transplantation should be considered. The management of internal contamination is much the same as the treatment of poisoning. The standard decontamination should be applied to reduce uptake, and the chelating agents can be administered to enhance the clearance of radioisotopes. Radioactive iodine ($^{131}I$) as one of the nuclear fission products can increase the incidence of thyroid cancer in children. Potential benefit of potassium iodide prophylaxis is greater especially in neonates, infants and small children.

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The analysis of students' ideas about the greenhouse effect (온실효과에 대한 학생들의 개념 분석)

  • Je, Kwi-Youn;An, Hui-Soo
    • Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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    • v.19 no.4
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    • pp.585-594
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    • 1999
  • The purpose of this study is to examine the concept of Greenhouse Effect as understood by middle school high school university students using a closed-form questionnaire. Based on results of the questionnaire which was administered to 619, the extent to which alternative concepts were held was quantified and compared the difference of various group based on grade level. gender, text and major. Also, subjects were divided into two groups, one is middle school students and the other is high school university students and common themes within conceptual framework of each group were identified by factor analysis. The result showed that students confused Greenhouse Effect with ozone layer depletion in stratosphere and linked familiar contamination around everyday life. acid rain. radioactive contamination, nuclear arsenal to Greenhouse Effect. These trends were more appreciable in female than male, biology major than any other major and text did not make any significant difference. In addition, the result of factor analysis showed that two groups linked familiar contamination around everyday life to Greenhouse Effect and high school university students understand the consequences of an increase in the Greenhouse Effect more systematically than middle school student, perceived the relation between the origin of an increase in the Greenhouse Effect and human activity but confused Greenhouse Effect with ozone layer depletion in stratosphere.

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Accumulation of Radiocesium in Mushrooms

  • Lee, Young-Keun;Sathesh-Prabu, Chandran
    • Journal of Radiation Industry
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    • v.6 no.1
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    • pp.1-9
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    • 2012
  • In spite of colossal efforts taken for safe handling and storage of radioactive waste, the uncontrolled release of radiocesium ($^{137}Cs$ and $^{134}Cs$ isotopes) into the natural environment is inevitable. $^{137}Cs$ is of particular concern because of its long half-life, ability to transfer into biota through food chains, as well as its great mobility, bioavailability, and chemical and ecophysiological similarity with potassium. Radiocesium is released anthropogenically into the environment. Mushrooms are known for their ability to accumulate radionuclides, particularly radiocesium, which is heterogeneously distributed in the individual parts of mushrooms, and it is found that mushrooms are a hyper-accumulator of radiocesium from their environment than other vegetation. Mushrooms play a major role in the mobilization, accumulation, and translocation of cesium, i.e., decontamination of soils (mycoextraction) polluted with cesium radioisotopes, and this capacity appears to be a relevant bioindicator of cesium contamination in the environment. Moreover, the extension of mycelium into the soil makes the use of mushrooms as bioindicators of radiocesium possible. This paper reviews the potential of mushrooms in the accumulation of radiocesium from the environment, and dissertates the salient features to support the employment of mushrooms in environmental biomonitoring as a sensitive bioindicator of radiocesium contamination.