²¹⁰Po in the marine biota of Korean coastal waters and the effective dose from seafood consumption

The activity concentrations of ²¹⁰Po were determined in plankton and selected species of macroalgae, crustaceans, molluscs, and fish from Korean coastal waters to understand ²¹⁰Po distribution in these trophic levels and to assess the effective dose of ²¹⁰Po from seafood ingested by the average Korean. The activity concentration of ²¹⁰Po in macroalgae, mixed plankton, anchovy (whole body), abalone muscle, and abalone viscera was 0.97–1.43, 32–137, 59–392, 2.93 ± 0.86, and 1495 ± 484 Bq kg⁻¹ (w.w.), respectively. Polonium-210 concentration in the whole flesh of mussel and oyster were 47.8 ± 5.9 and 45.3 ± 7.1 Bq kg⁻¹ (w.w.), respectively. Polonium-210 concentration in the muscle of the five tested species of fish other than anchovy ranged from 0.51 to 5.56 Bq kg⁻¹ (w.w.), with the lowest amount in a demersal species. In fish, ²¹⁰Po activity concentration was as much as three orders of magnitude higher in viscera than in muscle. The average annual effective ²¹⁰Po dose per average Korean adult, who consumes 42.8 kg of seafood a year (excluding anchovy), was estimated to be 94 μSv y⁻¹, with 42–71% of this attributed to shellfish. Further studies are required to assess the dose of ²¹⁰Po from anchovy owing to its high activity concentration and the manner in which anchovy is consumed.