title: Annual dose of Taiwanese from the ingestion of 210Po in oysters.
abstract: Oysters around the coast of Taiwan were collected, dried, spiked with a (209)Po tracer for yield, digested with concentrated HNO(3) and H(2)O(2), and finally dissolved in 0.5 N HCl. The polonium was then spontaneously deposited onto a silver disc, and the activity of (210)Po was measured using an alpha spectrum analyzer equipped with a silicon barrier detector. Meanwhile, the internal effective dose of (210)Po coming from the intake of oysters by Taiwanese was evaluated. The results of the present study indicate that (210)Po average activity concentrations ranged from 23.4 ± 0.4 to 126 ± 94 Bq kg(-1) of fresh oysters. The oysters coming from Penghu island and Kinmen island regions contain higher concentrations of (210)Po in comparison with oysters from other regions of Taiwan. The value of (210)Po weighted average activity concentrations for all oyster samples studied is 25.9 Bq kg(-1). The annual effective dose of Taiwanese due to the ingestion of (210)Po in oysters was estimated to be 4.1 × 10(-2) mSv y(-1).
authors.affiliation: Institute of Nuclear Energy Research, Atomic Energy Council, Jiaan Village, Longtan Township, Taoyuan County, Taiwan, Republic of China. hwlee@iner.gov.tw
authors.forename: Hsiu-wei
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Jeng-Jong
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D010125:Ostreidae / Q000737:chemistry*; D011059:Polonium / Q000032:analysis*; D012588:Scintillation Counting; D013624:Taiwan
chemical_list: D011059:Polonium