Study of ²¹⁰Po in Indian tobacco using liquid scintillation spectrometry

A fast radioanalytical method has been developed to measure ²¹⁰Po in tobacco samples. After microwave digestion Polonium is extracted quantitatively from a 1 M hydrochloric acid solution into a solution of tri-octylamine in toluene. The extract was measured by Liquid Scintillation Counting in alpha mode. Caused by the high counting efficiency the counting time per sample can be reduced significantly compared to conventional alpha.spectrometry allowing for high sample throughput. The method was applied to 11 brands of cigarettes, beads or chewing tobaccos from India. The annual and lifetime equivalent doses were calculated based on the resulting activity concentrations and typical consumption habits. They were found to be ∼100-700 Sv/a or ∼5-35 mSv, respectively.