Following the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident, the risk level perceived by Koreans on the radioactive contamination of Japanese food that is being distributed in Korea remains high. Many of these perceptions are based on subjective risk perception rather than an objective measure with scientific evidence, which makes communicating risks more difficult; therefore, it is critical to unders...

This paper focuses on an overview of radioactive cesium 137 (quasi-Cs137 included Cs134) contamination of freshwater fish in Fukushima and eastern Japan based on the data published by the Fisheries Agency of the Japanese Government in 2011. In the area north and west of the Fukushima Nuclear plant, freshwater fish have been highly contaminated. For example, the mean of active cesium (quasi-Cs13...

Isotopes that may contaminate crops Fallout may be made up of a hundred or more active isotopes but only a few of them are likely to be harmful as crop contaminants. Iodine. As 1311, it will be a major hazard for a few weeks after fallout arrives. Chamberlain & Chadwick (1953) showed that iodine gas is deposited on grass by diffusion. Chamberlain, Loutit, Martin & Russell (1955) note that, in f...

Assumptions for public health emergency preparedness planning involving the detonation of an improvised nuclear device in a large metropolitan area include casualties in the hundreds of thousands, total infrastructure damage within a radius of 0.8–4.8 km (0.5–3 mi), and radioactive materials contaminating thousands of square kilometers (1). It is apparent that responding to an improvised nuclea...

Feasibility tests were initiated to determine if the zirconium in commercial used nuclear fuel (UNF) cladding can be recovered in sufficient purity to permit re-use, and if the recovery process can be operated economically. Initial tests are being performed with unirradiated, non-radioactive samples of various types of Zircaloy materials that are used in UNF cladding to develop the recovery pro...

A successfull application of Geiger-mode multipixel avalanche diodes (GMAPDs) for pulse-shape discrimination in alpha-beta spectrometry using organic liquid scintillator is described in this paper. Efficient discrimination of alpha and beta components in the emission of radioactive isotopes is achieved for alpha energies above 0.3 MeV. The ultra-compact design of the scintillating detector help...

As the nation's industrial complex grows, one of its attendant evils—environmental pollution—grows apace. Perhaps no segment of this complex grows more rapidly at present than the atomic energy industry. Responsible officials are gradually becoming aware of the potential for pollution of this new giant. The problem is complicated by security requirements and by virtue of the inability to sense ...

A method is described for the quantitative separation of radioactive bile acids and neutral sterols in human faeces on a potassium hydroxide-treated silicic acid column. Results obtained with faecal extracts containing metabolites derived from radioactive cholesterol, cholic acid, and chenodeoxycholic acid show that the efficiency of extraction is at least 96% and that mutual contamination betw...

Air filter samples collected at Sodankylä (6722’N, 2639’E) were analyzed for determining concentrations of Cs, Sr and total beta in surface air at northern Finland during 1963. Activity concentrations of Cs, Sr and total beta varied seasonally being highest in spring and summer, due to enhanced transportation of aerosols containing radioactive particles from stratosphere to troposphere during w...

Given the scale of the contamination associated with 60 years of global nuclear activity, and the inherent high financial and environmental costs associated with invasive physical and chemical clean-up strategies, there is an unparalleled interest in new passive in situ bioremediation processes for sites contaminated with nuclear waste. Many of these processes rely on successfully harnessing ne...