Simultaneous determination of 210Pb and 210Po in seafood samples using liquid scintillation counting

The measurement of Pb-210 and Po-210 in seafood samples has attracted tremendous interest because of their radiotoxicity. In this study, a fast and cost-efficient method for the simultaneous determination of Pb-210 and Po-210 in seafood samples by ultralow-level liquid scintillation counting after separation on a Sr center dot spec column was developed. The recoveries of Pb-210 and Po-210 were similar to 70% and similar to 85%, respectively. The minimum detectable activity of the proposed method for Pb-210 and Po-210 was 3.85 Bq/kg and 1.50 Bq/kg, respectively, which is suitable for the determination of Pb-210 and Po-210 in seafood samples. The radiochemical procedure was validated by measuring Pb-210 and Po-210 activity concentrations in IAEA-certified reference materials and successfully applied to shrimp and clam samples.

Automated summary

A fast and cost-efficient method for the simultaneous determination of Pb-210 and Po-210 in seafood samples was developed and validated, with similar recoveries for both isotopes. The proposed method has a minimum detectable activity suitable for measuring Pb-210 and Po-210 in seafood samples.