Abstract

A new sensitive method to determine polonium-210 (210Po) and lead-210 (210Pb) in a diversity of environmental samples was developed. For fresh and marine waters, Po was pre-concentrated using a titanium (III) hydroxide (Ti(OH)3) co-precipitation. Solid environmental samples were digested with nitric acid (HNO3) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). The alpha thin layer source was prepared using CuS micro-precipitation and 210Po was measured by alpha spectrometry. Lead-210 was left to decay for up to a year and indirectly measured via its progeny, 210Po. The chemical recoveries for 210Po and 210Pb were high, 90% and 97%, respectively, for a large variety of samples and a very low minimum detectable activity (MDA) was obtained. The method was validated using standardized solutions and certified reference materials.

Details

Title
A sensitive method to determine 210Po and 210Pb in environmental samples by alpha spectrometry using CuS micro-precipitation
Author
Walsh, Stephanie 1 ; Bond, Matthew J. 1 ; Guérin, Nicolas 1 ; Blais, Jules M. 2 ; Rowan, David J. 1 

1  Canadian Nuclear Laboratories, Chalk River Laboratories, Chalk River, Canada (GRID:grid.459406.a) 
2  University of Ottawa, Department of Biology, Ottawa, Canada (GRID:grid.28046.38) (ISNI:0000 0001 2182 2255) 
Pages
19754
Publication year
2023
Publication date
2023
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20452322
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-46230-9
ProQuest document ID
2889491732
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2023. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.