title: Determination of (210)Pb, (210)Bi and (210)Po in natural waters and other materials by electrochemical separation.
abstract: An improved method for determination of (210)Pb, (210)Bi and (210)Po in both natural waters and solid materials has been developed. Polonium-210 is spontaneously plated onto a silver disc from dilute hydrochloric acid medium. Bismuth-210 is then electro-deposited onto a platinum gauze cathode directly from the same solution, with a graphite rod as anode. Finally, (210)Pb is electro-deposited from a fluoroborate medium onto the same platinum gauze, used as the anode. All three nuclides are subsequently measured by standard low-level alpha and beta counting techniques. The speed of this method (approximately 6 hr per sample after pretreatment) is a distinct advantage over existing techniques, as (210)Bi must be quickly separated from (210)Pb because of its 5.02-day half-life. Another advantage of this method is that the chemical form of the sample solution is suitable for use of established separation schemes for determining other decay-series isotopes (U, Th, Pa, etc.) after the three short-lived nuclides have been processed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oceanography, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida 32306, U.S.A.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Narita
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Harada
authors.forename: W C
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Burnett
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tsunogai
authors.forename: W J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: McCabe