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This material has been used in very specialised antistatic charge devices, used on film in very special cameras, probably for exotic, i.e., military uses, as a source of positive ions. So you analysis that these is a big hole in this interview is simply wrong.
The half life of polonium 210 is about 138 days -- it is made from iradiating Bi 209 with neutrons to create Bi 210 which (beta) decays to Po 210. Po 210 then (alpha) decays to Pb 206. What this means is that it is exceptionally easy to determine when a sample of Po 210 was made, by determining isotopic abundances using spectral analysis -- since the ratio Bi 210, Po 210 and Pb 206 (or indeed just Po 210 to Pb 206) will tell you how long the Polonium has existed for.
What everyone finds much more curious is how so many British Airways 767s came to be contaminated? How the hell were these guys carrying it, in a salt-shaker, a paper twist. How could they have spilled it in 4 aircraft? WTF?
