Detection of Polonium-210 in Environmental, Biological and Food Samples: A Review

Ingestion of polonium-210 from environmental media and food can cause serious health hazards (e.g., gastrointestinal symptoms, tumours, etc.) and has been a public health concern worldwide since the 2006 poisoning of Agent Litvinenko ²¹⁰Po in Russia. With the development of uranium mining and applications of nuclear technology in recent decades, the radioactive hazards posed by ²¹⁰Po to living organisms and the environment have become increasingly prominent. In order to strengthen the monitoring of environmental ²¹⁰Po and protect both the environment and human health, a series of explorations on the methods of ²¹⁰Po determination have been ongoing by researchers across the globe. However, previous reviews have focused on individual sample types and have not provided a comprehensive account of environmental, food, and biological samples that are closely related to human health. In this work, the sources, health hazards, chemical purification, and detection methods of trace ²¹⁰Po in different sample types are systematically reviewed. In particular, the advantages and disadvantages of various pretreatment methods are compared, and relevant domestic and international standards are integrated, which puts forward a new direction for the subsequent establishment of rapid, simple, and efficient measurement methods.