Characteristics and radiological hazard assessment of ²¹⁰Po in tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) in Vietnam

²¹⁰Po is one of the most toxic natural radionuclides. This isotope’s characteristics and radiological hazard assessment have been concerned in different objects. In this study, the ²¹⁰Po activities were determined in different tilapia organs/parts of 20 sample groups by alpha spectrometry. The ²¹⁰Po activities in muscle, bone, intestine organs, and stomach contents unevenly distributed with a wide range from 0.5 ± 0.2 to 2.8 ± 0.4 and 1.4 ± 0.2 Bq·kg⁻¹ wet.wt on average, from 0.6 ± 0.3 to 6.3 ± 0.7 and 3.5 ± 0.4 Bq·kg⁻¹ wet.wt on average, from 46.3 ± 2.9 to 263 ± 9.7 and 115 ± 6 Bq·kg⁻¹ wet.wt on average, and 20.9 ± 1.2 to 800 ± 29 and 197 ± 9 Bq·kg⁻¹ wet.wt on average, respectively. The average ²¹⁰Po activities in different parts of tilapia trend in order of C_Muscle < C_Bone < C_Intestine < C_{Stomach contents}. Insignificant correlations were observed between ²¹⁰Po activities in tilapia organs with their total fish mass. The result could depend on feeding types, diet, different nutrient levels, metabolism, and excretion of ²¹⁰Po in different ages. The concentration ratios (CRs) of tilapia muscle and bone organs were recorded with low values, while it was far greater than the CRs for the intestine organ. Annual committed effective doses contributing from ²¹⁰Po concentration due to tilapia fish consumption were within the allowable limits for muscle and bone organs, while those values for intestine organs were far higher than the allowable limit value (assuming similar amount consumption of 30 kg·year⁻¹ for each organ). The Erica tool was used to estimate the dose and risk to tilapia from ²¹⁰Po exposure. Based on the calculated results, it can be seen that there was insignificant concern for tilapia due to ionizing radiation in the study area.