• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.183-187
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• 2004

Radioactivity in foodstuffs was surveyed for reference in amending regulation on the maximum permitted levels of radioactive contamination of foodstuffs. Most domestic and imported (?) foodstuffs were sampled, some domestic items collected around nuclear power plants to compare site-specific contamination. The collected samples were dried and ashed. Radioactivity in foodstuffs was measured using HPGe gamma spectrometer, Cs-137 activity ranged from 0.025-0.053, 0.045-0.500, 0.062-0.105, 0.025-1.151, 0.021-0.145 and 0.046-0.155 Bq/kg-fresh in cereals, pulses, mot vegetables (potato), ginsengs, meat, and marine products, respectively, with imported dried ginseng showing the highest radioactivity, Results reveal radioactivity in foodstuffs collected in 2002 is far below the maximum permitted levels of 370 Bq/kg. No significant differences were observed in radioactivity among sampling sites and between domestic and imported foodstuffs.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.141-148
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• 2006

Surveys of radioactive contamination were performed for imported foodstuffs in 2003. The following samples among imported foodstuffs were selected from markets and Korea Food and Drug Administration(KFDA); the imported samples from country associated with the Chernobyl nuclear accident, the samples produced around the nuclear power plants or nuclear tests, the foodstuffs reported as radioacitive contamination materials in foreign country. After pretreatments such as drying and homogenization, samples were analyzed. The $^{137}Cs$ radionuclide was only measured among the regulation radionuclides($^{137}Cs,\;^{134}Cs,\;^{131}I$) of food code. All foodstuffs except Inonotus Obliquus(Chaga mushooms) are less than 17.0 Bq/kg or below the minimum detectable activity(MDA). The activity concentrations of Chaga mushrooms from Russia ranged up to 131.25 Bq/ltg which is almost 35 % of the maximum permitted level of food code. The fraction of imported foodstuffs having meaningful radioactivity is small, however, the radioactive contamination survey of imported foodstuffs is still needed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 1998.05b
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• pp.583-588
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• 1998

The effectiveness of dose reduction resulting from the application of countermeasures for ingestion pathways after nuclear accidents was investigated together with the derivation of optimized intervention levels for Korean foodstuffs. The radioactivity in foodstuffs was predicted from a dynamic food chain model DYNACON for the date which the deposition occurs. The effectiveness of countermeasures strongly depended on radionuclides, foodstuffs and date of deposition.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.13-25
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• 1978

The present paper deals with the measurement of the environmental radioactivity at the Kori nuclear Power Plant site area for the Period of six years from December 1970 to December 1976. Gross alpha activity was measured in samples of airborne particulate. Gross beta measurement was performed on soil, water, airborne perticulate, pine needle, precipitation, fallout (gummed acetate paper) and various foodstuffs. Radioactivities of strontium-90 and cesium-l37 were determined by means of radiochemical analyses in samples of spinach, cabbage, barley, rice in terrestrial food, sea eel, shell fish, dulse, green laver in marine product and milk, and of fallout (cloumn), Furthermore, tritum was also analyzed in water sample of well, stream and sea by electrical enrichment.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.9-24
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• 1993

The time-dependent radioecological model applicable to Korean environment has been developed in order to assess the radiological consequences following the short-term deposition of radionuclides in an accident of nuclear power plant. Time-dependent radioactivity concentrations in foodstuffs can be estimated by the model called 'KORFOOD' as well as time-dependent and time-integrated ingestion doses. Three kinds of critical radionuclides and thirteen kinds of foodstuffs were considered in this model. Dynamic variation of radioactivities were simulated by considering several effects such as deposition, weathering and washout, resuspension, root uptake, translocation, leaching, senescence, intake and excretion of soil by animals, intake and excretion of feedstuffs by animals, etc. The input data to the KORFOOD are the time of the year when the deposition occurs, the kinds of radionuclides and foodstuffs for estimation. The time-dependent specific activities in rice and the ingestion doses due to the consumption of all considered foodstuffs were calculated with deposition time using agricultural data-base in Kori region. In order to validate results of KORFOOD, the calculated results were compared with those by a leading German model, ECOSYS-87. The comparison of results shows good agreements within a factor of ten.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.52-58
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• 2004

This work was conducted to provide the reference data of radioactivity in the foodstuffs at a radiological emergency situation in Jeju Island The sampled foodstuffs were agricultural (31), livestock (6), marine (12) and forest products (4), and processed foods (3) consumed by Jeju Islanders. $^{137}Cs$ and $^{40}K$ activities were determined by HPGe r-ray spectromety. The activity ranges of $^{137}Cs$ was ${\sim}650\;mBq/kg$ fresh in the agricultural products, ${\sim}131\;mBq/kg$. fresh in the livestock, ${\sim}834\;mBq/kg$ fresh in the forest, ${\sim}253\;mBq/kg$ fresh in the marine and $32.0{\sim}483\;mBq/kg$. fresh in the processed foods (tea). In case of $^{40}K$ the activity was $16.6{\sim}542\;Bq/kg$. fresh in the agricultural products, $39.1{\sim}294\;Bq/kg$ fresh in the livestock, $85.5{\sim}116\;Bq/kg$ fresh in the forest, $50.1{\sim}657\;Bq/kg$ fresh in the marine, and $33.6{\sim}1,065\;Bq/kg$ fresh in the processed foods (tea). The highest activity of $^{137}Cs$, 834mBq/kg fresh was observed in oak mushroom and $^{40}K$ 1,065 Bq/kg fresh in coffee. Annual effective doses of $^{137}Cs$ and $^{40}K$ by intake of foodstuffs per capita were the following order; agricultural products (66,543 nSv) > livestock products (19,311 nSv) > processed foods (6,648 nSv) > marine products (6,579 nSv) > forest products (860 nSv). Therefore, total annual effective dose was summed 99,941 nSv which is quite low level comparing to the annual effective dose by external exposure, 2,400,000 nSv. The data obtained in this study can be useful for monitoring whether the foodstuffs are contaminated or not at an emergency radiation accident, and showed that the foodstuffs consumed in Jeju are safe in terms of annual effective dose of $^{137}Cs$ and $^{40}K$

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.7-14
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• 2016

Background: The objective of this study was to investigate Korean people's awareness about impact of the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident in Japan and radioactive contamination caused by it. Materials and Methods: The respondents of the survey were 600 adults who resided in the Seoul metropolitan area. Results and discussion: The survey results show that the majority of respondents were concerned about impact of radiation leakage that might have an effect on our environment. They were worried about radioactive contamination of foodstuffs, particularly fishery products and preferred to acquire information through TV(49.8%) or the Internet(31.3%). Meanwhile, respondents mentioned that the information on the Fukushima nuclear accident and radioactive contamination had not been sufficient and they didn't know well about the follow-up measures of the government on the accident. Most respondents answered that information on radioactive contamination levels and safety of foods and environment was most needed. Conclusion: The results of this study could be useful to enhance awareness on radioactivity and improve risk communication on nuclear power plant accidents.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.39-49
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• 2018

Background: A model to assess the activity concentration of agricultural products and the public ingestion dose as result of a nuclear accident is necessarily required to manage the contaminated agricultural systems by the accident, or to estimate the effects of chronic exposure due to food ingestion at a Level 3 PSA. Materials and Methods: A dynamic compartment model, which is composed of three sub-modules, namely, an agricultural plant contamination assessment model, an animal product contamination assessment model, and an ingestion dose assessment model has been developed based on Korean farming characteristics such as the growth characteristics of rice and stockbreeding. Results and Discussion: The application study showed that the present model can predict well the characteristics of the activity concentration for agricultural products and ingestion dose depending on the deposition date. Conclusion: The present model is very useful to predict the radioactivity concentration of agricultural foodstuffs and public ingestion dose as consequence of a nuclear accident. Consequently, it is expected to be used effectively as a module for the ingestion dose calculation of the Korean agricultural contamination management system as well as the Level 3 PSA code, which is currently being developed.