DETERMINATION OF LEAD-210 AND POLONIUM-210 IN MARINE ENVIRONMENT

Naturally occurring (210)Pb and (210)Po are important tracers used in marine environment studies. In this study, (210)Po and (210)Pb measurements in marine samples (sediment, sea water and biota) were performed using alpha spectrometry. Chemical recoveries are obtained using (210)Po tracer. Two different approaches for (210)Pb determinations are also compared. First, to keep the original samples for about 1 year to eliminate the excess (210)Po and to reach (210)Po-(210)Pb equilibrium before radiochemical separation of (210)Po. The second is to extract the excess (210)Po in the samples, then wait for attaining (210)Pb-(210)Po equilibrium in the solution to obtain (210)Pb activities. In samples, time corrections for excess (210)Po originated from radioactive decay of grand parent are discussed.