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Liquid scintillation counting of environmental radionuclides: a review of the impact of background reduction

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Abstract

Liquid scintillation counting (LSC) supports a range of environmental science measurements. At Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, we are constructing an LSC system with an expected background reduction of 10–100 relative to values reported in the literature. In this paper, a number of current measurement applications of LSC have been considered with an emphasis on determining which aspects of such measurements would gain the greatest benefit: improved minimum detectable activity (MDA), reduction in sample size, and reduction in total analysis time.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge support for this work from the Ultra-Sensitive Nuclear Measurements Initiative, a Laboratory Directed Research and Development Initiative at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. We thank Deb Barnett for assistance with editing and finalizing this manuscript for publication.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pacific Northwest Laboratory, Richland, WA, 99352, USA

    Matthew Douglas, Bruce E. Bernacki, Jennifer L. Erchinger, Erin C. Finn, Erin S. Fuller, Eric W. Hoppe, Martin E. Keillor, Shannon M. Morley, Crystal A. Mullen, John L. Orrell, Mark E. Panisko, Glen A. Warren & Michael E. Wright

  2. Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77840, USA

    Jennifer L. Erchinger

Authors
  1. Matthew Douglas
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  2. Bruce E. Bernacki
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  3. Jennifer L. Erchinger
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  4. Erin C. Finn
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  5. Erin S. Fuller
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  6. Eric W. Hoppe
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  9. Crystal A. Mullen
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Correspondence to Matthew Douglas.

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Douglas, M., Bernacki, B.E., Erchinger, J.L. et al. Liquid scintillation counting of environmental radionuclides: a review of the impact of background reduction. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 307, 2495–2504 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-015-4512-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-015-4512-8

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