[ScaniaBoy]

Interesting.

If it is the Po they have found it is of course an alfa-emitter, and then they must have measured very close to the source(s). So it should be easy to ascertain if the radiation came from a particular vessel (bottle, cup, glass) or was found on or around the table Mr Litvinenko used.

[Dog]

This is moving very fast...

Ivan any more on this sushi bar?

[Gorzaloon]

"One of the deadliest radioactive isotopes is 210Po (Polonium-210). It is a strong alpha emitter with a half-life of 128 days. Polonium metal is also rather volatile, with a melting point of 255 degrees C, making it a particularly deadly component of tobacco smoke (inhaling alpha emitters is not a very good idea).

Fortunately, polonium is found only in minute amounts in Nature. Polonium is so radioactive that a 0.50 gram sample will reach temperatures greater than 500 degrees all by itself. The radiation energy is so great that an amount too small to see would be a lethal dose!"

http://www.ilpi.com/fun/toxic/index.html

AND:

In the survival study, rats injected in intravenously solely with a lethal amount of 210Po (1.45 MBq kg-1 body mass) died within 14-44 days

[Gorzaloon]

If it is the Po they have found it is of course an alfa-emitter, and then they must have measured very close to the source

There is a Gamma associated with that alpha decay. About 4-500 KeV. One can detect the gamma from a thorium 232 decay in an old Coleman lantern mantle from a foot away or more.

232Th has a lower specific activity than 210Th.