²¹⁰Po in shellfish Mytella falcata from a tropical estuary

¹ Dept. of Chemistry, Pontifícia Universidade Católica, R. Marquês de S. Vicente 225, CEP 22453-900, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
² IRD, Comissão Nacional de Energia Nuclear, Barra da Tijuca, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
³ Universidade Federal Fluminense, Niterói, Brazil

Abstract

Edible parts of the shellfish Mytella falcata collected in Mundaú Lagoon, a tropical estuary in the northeast coast of Brazil, were analyzed for ²¹⁰Po contents. This lagoon serves as an estuary to the Mundaú River and a phosphate fertilizers factory is installed in its right margin. The bivalves were manually collected during the first two weeks of March 2007 and February 2008. The method for ²¹⁰Po determination consisted of spontaneous deposition on copper disks followed by alpha counting. A decrease of the activity concentration of ²¹⁰Po with soft tissue weighs was achieved, presenting a significant linear relationship (p < 0.05). The average value found for the activity concentration of ²¹⁰Po in Mytella falcata was 88.4 Bq ⋅ kg^-1 wet weight.