Intake of 210Po, 234U and 238U radionuclides with wine in Italy

Abstract

238U, 234U and 210Po activity concentration was determined in 70 samples of red and white wine coming from 16 Italian regions. The radionuclides were determined by alpha spectrometry after separation. The results show that the mean concentrations of 238U, 234U and 210Po were 3.63 x 10(-3)+/-2.19 x 10(-3), 4.41 x 10(-3)+/-3.10 x 10(-3) and 6.85 x 10(-2)+/-3.79 x 10(-2) Bq L(-1) for red wine and 5.08 x 10(-3)+/-4.20 x 10(-3), 5.59 x 10(-3)+/-8.49 x 10(-3) and 3.92 x 10(-2)+/-2.63 x 10(-2) Bq L(-1) for white wine, respectively. The effective radiation dose due to the uranium and polonium ingestions by wine (0.5l per day) ranges from 2.68 x 10(-4) to 4.91 x 10(-2) mSv year(-1).