Determination of210Pb in sediments by extraction chromatography

A selective method is described for the determination of210Pb in sediments, based on the separation of the daughter210Bi by extraction chromatography with Microthene 710-tri-n-octylphosphine oxide (TOPO) and on a final source counting with a low background β-counter. The average chemical yield is 92.0%. The detection limit for 2 g samples is 19 Bq kg−1. An IAEA reference sediment sample was analyzed to check the reliability of the method.