Radioactive Milk at Chernobyl

After the big Nuclear accident in Chernobyl in the Ukraine (which was then part of Russia), the residents are worried that the milk produced by cows is radioactive and they are trying to find ways of cleansing it.

The problem arises because nucleides from the factory fell on the grass. The cows ate the grass, so the radioactive atoms are then in the cows.The cows make milk, so now there are radioactive atoms in the milk. And if a child drinks the milk, the radioactive atoms are now inside the child.

So if any of these atoms decay and give off a 'poisonous' gamma ray, it has a very great chance of hitting part of the child's body and doing harm.

The major material thrown out in the explosion was Caesium-30 which has a half-life of 30 years.

One resident said,

If we cannot find a way to clean up the site, then the milk will be undrinkable for at least the next 200 years.