210Po in shellfish Mytella falcata from a tropical estuary

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 falcate was 88.4 Bq kg-1 wet weight. © 2009 EDP Sciences.