BRUNILDA DACI, ELIDA BYLYKU
Abstract :
Naturally occurring radionuclides of terrestrial origin called primordial radionuclides are present in various quantities in the environment, including the human body. Polonium- 210 is one of the most toxic naturally occurring radionuclides and one of the most important environmental radionuclides due to its wide distribution and potential for human radiation exposure through ingestion and inhalation. It is a naturally occurring alpha emitter and exists in the environment, mostly found in water, soil and food because of the Lead- 210 decay within the Uranium-238 decay chain. There are limited number of methods available for its determination in water samples, the most used being alpha-particle spectrometry. In this study are performed two procedures for chemical separation of polonium, solvent extraction, and Sr-resin extraction chromatography to determine the activity concentration of 210-Po by alpha- particle spectrometry. The other steps of the procedure including chemical procedures and measurement was the same.
Keywords : Polonium-210, alpha particle spectrometry, radiation, decay chain.