Rapid separation of Po-210 from Pb-210 based on the usage of a commercial Sr-Specific chromatographic resin.

The efficient extraction of small quantities of 210Po is necessary for preparing 210Po standard reference materials. Herein, a commercially available strontrium-specific chromatographic resin (Sr spec resin) was used to rapidly and selectively extract 210Po from a 210Pb–210Bi-210Po mixture, and the distribution ratios of Pb, Bi, and 210Po on Sr spec resin were probed using batch experiments. In contrast to 210Pb and 210Bi, 210Po was retained on the Sr spec cartridge in 8 M HCl and was then effectively eluted by 0.1 M HNO3. The contents of 210Pb and 210Bi in the thus obtained 210Po solution were checked using a high purity germanium gamma-ray detector and the corresponding decay curve, respectively, and were found not to exceed 2%. Moreover, the 210Pb and 210Bi eluates could be used to regenerate 210Po by the same method after a certain time period. Therefore, the extracted 210Po solution was suitable for the preparation of the 210Po standard area source and 210Po standard reference materials.