What is Polonium-210?

Main Category: Radiology / Nuclear Medicine
Article Date: 04 Dec 2006 - 0:00 PDT

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Two UAB (University of Alabama at Birmingham) physicians with special expertise in radiation poisoning have compiled a fact sheet on polonium-210, the substance implicated in the death of a former Russian spy. Benjamin C.

Smith, M.D., is a nuclear engineer, and Ziad N. Kazzi, M.D., is a medical toxicologist. They are in UAB's Department of Emergency Medicine. Kazzi, co-director of the UAB Center for Emerging Infections and Emergency Preparedness, studied radiation poisoning at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Radiation Emergency Assistance Center/Training site.

Polonium-210: Fact Sheet

Polonium-210 is a radioactive material that releases alpha particles. Its typical uses include devices that eliminate static charges and dust in textile mills, photographic plates and phonographs/records. It is found in small amounts as a contaminant in cigarette smoke and is likely a significant contributor to lung cancer.1,2

Alpha particles are ionizing radiation that can be stopped simply with a piece of paper, or by the dead superficial layer of skin. The particles release all their energy in a very short distance, so when polonium-210 is placed on the skin, it is not dangerous; however, when taken into the body via inhalation or ingestion, polonium can enter the blood stream and alpha particles can impact organs and vital tissues directly.

Polonium-210 is excreted in feces and urine over a period of several months.3

The polonium-210 dose that will kill 50 percent of persons who internalize it is about 100,000th of a milligram, one-million times more toxic than cyanide.4

Some commercially manufactured antistatic devices may contain as much as 500 micro-curies of polonium-210, theoretically enough radioactive material to kill 5,000 persons.5 However, this polonium is affixed in a gold foil amalgam; extremely sophisticated techniques and advanced technical knowledge would be required to weaponize such polonium.6

In its purest form, the amount of polonium-210 that would fit on the tip of a pen (0.5 mm3), if properly dispersed, could kill 500 persons. In the U.S., access to pure radioactive material such as polonium-210 is heavily government-regulated and requires a license for its handling and use.

Dimercaprol, also known as British Anti-Lewisite, is a chelating agent that may be effective as a treatment for Polonium-210 poisoning.7

References

1. Lung cancer induced in hamsters by low doses of alpha radiation from polonium-210. J. Little, A. Kennedy, and R. McGandy (1975) Science 188, 737-738

2. Polonium-210 in Bronchial Epithelium of Cigarette Smokers. J. B. Little, E. P. Radford Jr., and R. B. Holtzman (1967) Science 155, 606-607

3. Nuclide Safety Data Sheet, Polonium - 210 (http://www.nchps.org)

4. Ellenhorn, M.J., S. Schonwald, G. Ordog, J. Wasserberger. Ellenhorn's Medical Toxicology: Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Poisoning. 2nd ed. Baltimore, MD: Williams and Wilkins, 1997., p. 1477

5. Amstat Industries online catalog: http://www.amstat.com/solutions/staticmaster.html

6. Gumkowski, G. NRD LLC (phone 716-773-7634)

7. NRCP Report No. 65: Management of Persons Accidentally Contaminated With Radionuclides