Polonium behaviour in reservoirs potentially affected by acid mine drainage (AMD) in the Iberian Pyrite Belt (SW of Spain)

Seasonal evolution of natural radionuclides in two rivers affected by acid mine drainage and phosphogypsum pollution

“…There are few works worldwide about concentrations and behaviour of natural radionuclides in locations affected by AMD, but high activity concentrations in these polluted environments have been found mainly for Uisotopes (Fernandes et al, 1998;Yamamoto et al, 2010;Durand, 2012;Madzivire, et al, 2014). In the study area some previous works also shown large concentrations of natural radionuclides with enhanced contents of U-Th isotopes and 210 Po in both waters and sediments (Hierro et al, 2012, Hierro et al, 2013, Blasco et al, 2016, Manjón et al, 2019a.…”

Behaviour of heavy metals and natural radionuclides in the mixing of phosphogypsum leachates with seawater

“…Therefore, the U-isotopes show a non-conservative behaviour and tend to precipitate or to be adsorbed almost totally at pH values around 5, to return into the liquid phase due to redissolution/desorption processes at near neutral pH values. systems worldwide (Blasco et al, 2016, Manjón et al, 2019, Bam et al, 2020. These facts demonstrate that 210 Po tends to precipitate and/or to be adsorbed by the particulate matter during the neutralization, showing a non-conservative behaviour.…”

Natural radioactivity in algae arrivals on the Canary coast and dosimetry assessment

“…When the solutions were totally digested, the dry residue was redissolved in 8 M nitric acid. For isolation of the radionuclides of Po and U, a sequential radiochemical method based on an extraction technique with tributyl phosphate (TBP) was applied (Blasco et al, 2016;Bolívar et al, 2000). In this method, once the radionuclides are isolated and purified, Po isotopes are spontaneously plated onto silver discs overnight at room temperature while U isotopes are electrodeposited onto stainless steel discs.…”