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Assessment of health safety from ingestion of
Polonium-210 in Penaeus merguiensis from a
coal burning power plant area of Malaysia
Lubna Alam, Mazlin Bin Mokhtar & Che Abd. Rahim Mohamed
Presented by
Dr. Lubna Alam

Anthropogenic
input & land run
off
Po-210
Coal & Biomass
burning

Coal
39%
34.21%
Global energy
production
Malaysia
6.7 billion
ton/year
Year 2030
Next 2
decades
10 billion
ton

there is very limited study about the spatial and seasonal variability of Po-210 in marine environment relating to the impact of coal burni
Minor
amount
Uranium
&
Thorium
100 times more
radiation into the
surrounding
environment than a
nuclear power
plant

Penaeus merguiensis
Surface water

Figure : Relationship between Total length and Po-210 concentration in
Penaeus merguiensis

Trend of Po-210 concentration in organisms with the ambient water.

Impact on Human Health
• BCF = Activity in specified tissue sample (Bqkg -1 ) / Activity in
filtered water (Bql -1 )----- (1)
• Daily intake (mBqday -1 person -1 ) = (AV x AP x 0.6) / (MP ×365)
------- (2)
• Dose (D) = DF × MF × Σ(Ai × Ci ×fi) ------ (3)
• Risk = r×I [24] -------------- (4)

Po-210 uptake from water
column
Transfer parameter in assessment
of public dose

Comparison of BCF in crustacean with the literature review.

Daily intake (mBqd-1person- 1 )
100000
World Ref. Value, 58000
10000
Marshal Islan1900
Kalpakkam, 2070
1000
Japan, 690
Kudankulam, 382
Malaysia, 653.02
100
Mumbai, 31
Poland, 42
Poland, 27
10
Syria, 6.46
1
Mishra et al.
(2009)
Al-Masri et
al. (2000)
Yamamoto
et al. (1994)
Pietrzak-Flis
et al. (1997)
Skwarzec
(1997)
Locations
Noshkin et
al. (1994)
Kannan et al
2001 [
Khan and
Wesley
(2011)
Quan et al
2008
Present
study
Comparison of daily intake with the literature review

50% (0.32 Bq)
Gastrointestinal tract (GI) model
Ingestion
(0.65 Bq)
ST
No
absorption
4 h
ʎ ST
SI
50%
ʎ B = f 1 ʎ SI /(1- f 1 )
Blood
(0.32 Bq)
ʎ SI
13 h
ULI
24 h
ʎ ULI
LLI
Liver Spleen
(0.09 Bq) (0.06 Bq)
Red bone Other
Kidneys
marrow tissues
(0.03 Bq (0.03 Bq (0.14Bq)
ʎ LLI
Excretion

Global average of annual radiation
doses from natural radiation sources
is 2400 µSv (UNSCEAR 2000).
7.75%
Nielsen et al. (1999) studied artificial radionuclide (Cs-137 and Sr-90) in the
Baltic Sea marine environment and for a critical group, the maximum dose in
humans was estimated to be 40-200 µSvyr -1 .

Dose (µSv/yr)
10000
1000
100
Cuba, 152
W English Channel,78
Kalpakkam, 1302
Baltic sea, 700
Italy, 200
Gulf of Mannar, 2288
Kudankulam, 166
Malaysia,
186.03
10
Mumbai, 19
Ireland, 19
Sudan, 4
Mediterranean region, 20
World Ref. value,
7
1
Locations
Comparison of CED with the literature review

Mortality risk < ICRP (2.5×10 -3 )
Morbidity risk < ICRP (2.5×10 -3 )

Concluding remarks
• Accumulation of Po-210 in marine Shrimp is
dependent on ambient environment.
• Shrimp consumption in Kapar coastal area of
Malaysia is not at considerable risk

References
• Mishra, S., Bhalke, S., Pandit, G. G. & Puranik, V. D. 2009. Estimation of 210Po and its risk to human beings due to consumption of marine species at
Mumbai, India. Chemosphere 76(3): 402-406.
• Al-Masri, M. S., Mamish, S., Budeir, Y. & Nashwati, A. 2000. 210Po and 210Pb concentrations in fish consumed in Syria. Journal of Environmental
Radioactivity 49(3): 345-352.
• Yamamoto, M., Abe, T., Kuwabara, J., Komura, K., Ueno, K. & Takizawa, Y. 1994. Polonium-210 and lead-210 in marine organisms: Intake levels for
Japanese. Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry 178(1): 81-90.
• Pietrzak-Flis, Z., Chrzanowski, E. & Dembinska, S. 1997. Intake of 226Ra, 210Pb and 210Po with food in Poland. Science of the Total Environment 203(2):
157-165.
• Skwarzec, B. 1997. Polonium, uranium and plutonium in the Southern Baltic Sea. AMBIO 26(2): 113-117.
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Environment 155(1): 87-104.
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Radiation and Isotopes 54(4): 663-674.
• Khan, M. & Wesley, S. 2011b. Tissue distribution of 210Po and 210Pb in select marine species of the coast of Kudankulam, southern coast of Gulf of
Mannar, India. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 175(1): 623-632.
• Quan, W., Hongda, Z., Tiqiang, F. & Qingfen, L. 2008. Re-estimation of internal dose from natural radionuclides for Chinese adult men. Radiation
Protection Dosimetry 130: 434-441.
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• Nielsen, S. P., Bengtson, P., Bojanowsky, R., Hagel, P., Herrmann, J., Ilus, E., Jakobson, E., Motiejunas, S., Panteleev, Y., Skujina, A. & Suplinska, M. 1999.
The radiological exposure of man from radioactivity in the Baltic Sea. Science of the Total Environment 237-238: 133-141.
• Jia, G., Belli, M., Sansone, U., Rosamilia, S. & Blasi, M. 2003. 210Pb and 210Po concentrations in the Venice lagoon ecosystem (Italy) and the potential
radiological impact to the local public and environment. Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry 256(3): 513-528.
• Hassona, R. K., Sam, A. K., Osman, O. I., Sirelkhatim, D. A. & LaRosa, J. 2008. Assessment of Committed Effective Dose due to consumption of Red Sea
coral reef fishes collected from the local market (Sudan). Science of the Total Environment 393(2-3): 214-218.
• Masilamani, V. 2001. Studies on the Bioaccumulation of Polonium-210 and Lead- 210 in the Biota of Gulf of Mannar, India. Ph.D. Thesis , Bharathidasan
University, Tiruchirappalli.
• IAEA-TECDOC-838. 1995. Sources of Radioactivity in the Marine Environment and their Relative Contributions to Overall Dose Assessment from Marine
Radioactivity (MARDOS). Final Report of a Co-ordinated Research Programme. IAEA.

Contact
Email: lubna762120@gmail.com
Phone: +60146420690

Death of Mr. Alexander Litvinenko (former officer of
the Russian Federal Security Service) by 2 Gbq of Po-
210 = 10 µg of Po-210.
Median lethal condition of Po-210 = 50 nanogram of
Po-210
Median lethal dose of acute radiation exposure = 4.5
sv. (0.015 GBq)
CED equivalent of Po-210 = 0.5 µsv/bq