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Nitromethane and other quenching agents used to determine the tritium activity concentration by liquid scintillation spectroscopy

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Abstract

The quenching properties of nitromethane, nitric acid, acetone and saturated solutions of chloroform, carbon tetrachloride, dichloro-methane, and a blend of carbon tetrachloride and chloroform mixed with an Ultima Gold uLLT liquid scintillation cocktail were investigated by using a Quantulus 1220 as well as TRICARB 2800TR liquid scintillation counters. With respect to all investigated quenching agents, nitromethane showed higher quenching action and solubility as well as a remarkable time stability. The implications of this finding for further routine tritium determinations are presented and discussed.

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Acknowledgments

This work was done within the BS ERA NET 041 project in the frame of BS-ERA. NET Pilot Joint Call 2010/2011 and with the support of the Pilot Plant for Tritium and Deuterium Separation. We would like to thank two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions in reviewing this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Institute of Cryogenics and Isotopic Technologies, 4, Uzinei str., 240050, Ramnicu Valcea, Romania

    Carmen Varlam, I. Faurescu, Irina Vagner & Denisa Faurescu

  2. Department of Structure of Matter, Earth and Atmospheric Physics and Astrophysics, University of Bucharest, 405, Atomistilor str., 077125, Magurele, Ilfov, Romania

    O. G. Duliu

Authors
  1. Carmen Varlam
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  2. I. Faurescu
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  3. Irina Vagner
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  4. Denisa Faurescu
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  5. O. G. Duliu
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to O. G. Duliu.

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Varlam, C., Faurescu, I., Vagner, I. et al. Nitromethane and other quenching agents used to determine the tritium activity concentration by liquid scintillation spectroscopy. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 303, 789–795 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-014-3364-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-014-3364-y

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