Environmental radioactivity part of the Chernobyl release was the caesium-137, this isotope is responsible for much of the long term (at least one year after the fire) external exposure which has occurred at the site. The caesium isotopes in the fallout have had an effect on farming. A large amount of caesium was released during the Goiânia accident where a radioactive source (made for medical use) was stolen and then smashed open during an attempt to convert it into scrap metal. The accident could have been stopped at several stages; first, the last legal owners of the source failed to make arrangements
Chernobyl disaster being taken up by fungi such as "Cortinarius caperatus" which is in turn eaten by sheep whilst grazing. The United Kingdom was forced to restrict the movement of sheep from upland areas when radioactive caesium-137 fell across parts of Northern Ireland, Wales, Scotland and northern England. In the immediate aftermath of the disaster in 1986, a total of 4,225,000 sheep had their movement restricted across a total of 9,700 farms, in order to prevent contaminated meat entering the human food chain. The number of sheep and the number of farms affected has decreased since 1986, Northern Ireland was released from