Background information about polonium-210 – considerations on its biokinetics and internal dosimetry
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U. Oeh
Abstract
The mysterious death of the former secret service agent Alexander Litvinenko on 23 November 2006 suddenly attracted the attention of the public to the rather unknown radionuclide 210Po. In this respect, this paper presents some general background information about this radionuclide as well as some details about its biokinetic behaviour and internal dosimetry. The results are discussed in the context of the Litvinenko case with regard to possible health effects on people from Germany being potentially contaminated. However, no evidence for contamination with 210Po could be found for any people tested at the GSF-National Research Center for Environment and Health (since 01.01.2008 Helmholtz Zentrum München).
Kurzfassung
Durch den mysteriösen Tod des früheren Geheimdienstoffiziers Alexander Litwinenko am 23. November 2006 wurde das bisher nahezu unbekannte Radionuklid 210Po plötzlich in den Fokus des öffentlichen Interesses gezogen. In diesem Zusammenhang sollen hier einige allgemeine Hintergrundinformationen über dieses Radionuklid aufgezeigt werden, ebenso wie detaillierte Informationen zur Biokinetik und Internen Dosimetrie. Die Ergebnisse werden vor dem Hintergrund des Falls Litwinenko zur Abschätzung der Gesundheitsrisiken von möglicherweise kontaminierten Personen aus Deutschland näher diskutiert. Es zeigten sich jedoch keine Hinweise auf eine Kontamination mit 210Po bei den im GSF-Forschungszentrum für Umwelt und Gesundheit (seit 01.01.2008 Helmholtz Zentrum München) untersuchten Personen.
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© 2009, Carl Hanser Verlag, München
Articles in the same Issue
- Contents/Inhalt
- Contents
- Summaries/Kurzfassungen
- Summaries
- Technical Contributions/Fachbeiträge
- Precautionary measures in case of radiological events
- Hazard and precautionary measures in connection with negligent or wilful contamination
- The Swiss disaster management plan for coping with the aftermath of radiological dispersal devices – “dirty bomb” operational concept
- Non-destructive measuring techniques for on-site detection and identification of illicit nuclear material
- Practicle example of the defence of a contamination incident
- Atmospheric dispersion modelling applying advanced model approaches
- Background information about polonium-210 – considerations on its biokinetics and internal dosimetry
- The Hamburg polonium-210 case: Monitoring of internal contaminations in a malevolent act
- Early warning against airborne radioactivity in Bavaria: Measuring network for radioactive immissions
- Automatic calculation of sites for positioning of mobile gamma probes in case of an emergency at a Bavarian nuclear power plant
- Nuclear emergency preparedness and response in Germany
- Determination and evaluation of the radiological situation using mobile measurements during the ground phase
- Erfahrungen aus der Übung „MERLIN“ zur Detektion radioaktiver Stoffe unter Beteiligung verschiedenen Einsatzfahrzeuge
Articles in the same Issue
- Contents/Inhalt
- Contents
- Summaries/Kurzfassungen
- Summaries
- Technical Contributions/Fachbeiträge
- Precautionary measures in case of radiological events
- Hazard and precautionary measures in connection with negligent or wilful contamination
- The Swiss disaster management plan for coping with the aftermath of radiological dispersal devices – “dirty bomb” operational concept
- Non-destructive measuring techniques for on-site detection and identification of illicit nuclear material
- Practicle example of the defence of a contamination incident
- Atmospheric dispersion modelling applying advanced model approaches
- Background information about polonium-210 – considerations on its biokinetics and internal dosimetry
- The Hamburg polonium-210 case: Monitoring of internal contaminations in a malevolent act
- Early warning against airborne radioactivity in Bavaria: Measuring network for radioactive immissions
- Automatic calculation of sites for positioning of mobile gamma probes in case of an emergency at a Bavarian nuclear power plant
- Nuclear emergency preparedness and response in Germany
- Determination and evaluation of the radiological situation using mobile measurements during the ground phase
- Erfahrungen aus der Übung „MERLIN“ zur Detektion radioaktiver Stoffe unter Beteiligung verschiedenen Einsatzfahrzeuge
