Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Gaseous radioiodine transport in the air-forage-cow-milk system. [/sup 131/I transport]

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/7363282· OSTI ID:7363282

To study the transport of /sup 131/I in the air-forage-cow milk system, a gaseous form of /sup 131/I was released over a field of growing alfalfa which also contained some baled hay and dairy cows in pens. Some of the alfalfa was converted to hay and fed to cows, and some was used as green chop for other cows and goats. The results of this experiment suggest that the deposition velocity of gaseous iodine is much less than that for iodine bound to particulates; that cows ingesting hay secrete a higher percentage of /sup 131/I in milk than cows ingesting green chop; that gaseous forms do not penetrate hay bales to any great extent; that the gaseous form is transferred to milk in a manner similar to particulate forms; that ingestion of contaminated forage results in 80 times as much /sup 131/I transfer to milk as does inhalation exposure to the same cloud; and that goats transfer /sup 131/I from forage to milk more efficiently than do dairy cows. (auth)

Research Organization:
Environmental Monitoring and Support Lab., Las Vegas, Nev. (USA)
DOE Contract Number:
AT(26-1)-539
OSTI ID:
7363282
Report Number(s):
EMSL-LV-539-2
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English