Radioactivity in Food and the

SEPA. 2000. Radioactivity in food and the environment, 1999 (RIFE-5). Scottish Environment Protection Agency, 33... 

To ensure that any radioactivity in food and the environment due to authorised radioactive releases and discharges do not compromise public health or the environment, undertaken by assessing critical group doses and comparing them to legal limits. 

The combined results from the surveillance programmes are reported in the joint UK regulators annual Radioactivity in Food and the Environment (RIFE) series of reports. The most recent report is RIFE 11, which provides all information for the monitoring carried out in 2005. ... 

Radioactivity in Food and the Environment, 2005. RIFE 11, (2006). Environment Agency, Environment and Heritage Service, Food Standards Agency and Scottish Environment Protection Agency. Bristol, Belfast, London and Stirling. 

The dose from direct radiation needs also to be added. Section 12.4.2 of the EDCD (Reference 12.1) states that the direct radiation dose at the site boundary is negligible. To provide an estimate, the doses experienced from the closest comparable design currently in operation in the UK have been used, i.e., the Sizewell B PWR, which is based on an older Westinghouse design. The direct shine dose at the Sizewell B perimeter fence was 4 pSv in 2007, taken from Appendix 4 of Radioactivity in Food and the Environment Report, 2007 (Reference 12.7). 

Radioactivity in Food and the Environment Report, 2007 - RIFE-13, Environment Agency, December 2008. 

The activity concentrations provided in this paper have been collated from data that has been published in the annual Radioactivity in Food and the Enviromnent Report (RIFE) reports and the earlier MAFF annual monitoring report series. Most recent data, for the Northern Ireland surveillance programme in 2013, is located in Table 8.5 in RIFE 19, with supporting text in Section 8.3. In the RIFE data tables, if more than one sample is collected and analysed, the value of the radionuclide concentration is reported as the mean of the individual concentrations for that sample. These mean values have also been used in the compilation of the datasets reported here. 

Colella, M., Reinhard, M., Tuniz, C., Thomson, S. (2007) Unmasking the illicit trafficking of nuclear and other radioactive materials. In Radionuclide Concentrations in Food and the Environment, edited by Leo, M. NoUet, L., Poschl, M. Boca Raton, FL CRC Press, pp. 333-365. 

Selenium is a vital microelement for people. It has dual properties. Selenium is an essential nutrient at low concentration levels and it becomes toxic at higher concentration levels. Deficiency of selenium results in weakness and hard diseases. Selenium is a building material of many hormones and ferments it neutralizes free radicals, radioactive radicals in organism. The range of selenium safety concentration in food and water is very narrow. The daily normal amount of human consumption of selenium is 10-20 p.g, maximum safe concentration of selenium in water is 5-10 p.g/1. It becomes toxic at 20-30 p.g and bigger content in different objects. 

The thyroid gland, located in the neck, absorbs much of the iodine that enters the body in food and drink. This image of the gland was obtained by giving a patient the radioactive isotope iodine-131. Such images are useful in diagnosing metabolic disorders. 

Comprehensive research programs sponsored by the U. S. Atomic Energy Commission and the Army in this country have been under way for the past 14 years. These studies were concerned with ascertaining the physical and chemical changes in foods preserved by ionizing energy, with particular emphasis upon wholesomeness, nutritional adequacy, acceptability, and absence of induced radioactivity in foods intended for consumption by humans. 

The general control of radioactivity in foods has been provided by other congressional directives that have been executed by an Executive Order (7) delegating to the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) the primary responsibility for all public health matters relating to radiation. This department, together with the Federal Radiation Council, recommends the federal policy for routine and emergency situations involving radiation. This policy is recommended to the President, the federal... 

The ability to measure an added radioactivity in food depends on the type of radiation (jfl-ray, positron, 7-ray), the energy of the radiation, the concentration of the radioactivity, the chemical characteristics of the radioactive element, and the chemical characteristics of the food. In other words, the measurement capability depends on the detector sensitivity for the specific radionuclides involved and on the background radioactivity in the chemically separated sample to be counted. 

Background. The background radioactivity in food arises from natural causes and radioactive fallout. The magnitude of this activity is indicated in Table V (5,15,21). 

The RMA have been shown to be simple, sensitive, and specific for the measurement of vitamin B12, folate, and niacin in the blood and for the measurement of vitamin B12 and folate in food. Further work will be carried out for the measurement of niacin in food. For the determination of the biologically active forms of niacin, the RMA is more specific than the TMA. The RMA is also more specific than the CPBA for the measurement of vitamin B12. The advantages of the RMA over the TMA are (i) it is sensitive and simple (ii) the colored or turbid materials do not interfere with the assay (iii) only small amounts of material are required and most important, (iv) RMA combines the biological specificity of the microorganisms with the precision of measuring radioactive decay as the endpoint. 

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