Abstract: The monitoring of ²¹⁰Po in aerosol is an important item for the environmental radiation protection. The alpha spectrum tracer method was employed in present work. In the sample treatment, the aerosol samples were first cut into pieces and mixed with standard ²⁰⁹Po as tracer then wet-digested by nitric acid, sulfuric acid, perchlorate acid system and extracted with 0.5 mol/L hydrochloric acid, finally auto deposited on silver in high temperature and high-speed stirring water bath. The developed method has been tested by several quality control systems, and widely used in atmospheric aerosol measurements of national controlled radiation monitoring points and in pollution source monitoring of uranium mine projects.

Key words: atmospheric aerosol, polonium-210, tracer, auto-deposition