Simultaneous determination of 210Pb and 210Po in seafood samples using liquid scintillation counting.

The measurement of 210Pb and 210Po in seafood samples has attracted tremendous interest because of their radiotoxicity. In this study, a fast and cost-efficient method for the simultaneous determination of 210Pb and 210Po in seafood samples by ultralow-level liquid scintillation counting after separation on a Sr•spec column was developed. The recoveries of 210Pb and 210Po were ~70% and ~85%, respectively. The minimum detectable activity of the proposed method for 210Pb and 210Po was 3.85 Bq/kg and 1.50 Bq/kg, respectively, which is suitable for the determination of 210Pb and 210Po in seafood samples. The radiochemical procedure was validated by measuring 210Pb and 210Po activity concentrations in IAEA-certified reference materials and successfully applied to shrimp and clam samples.