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The new international reference system for pure α- and pure β-emitting radionuclides and some electron capture decaying radionuclides by liquid scintillation counting

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Abstract

The Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM) is developing, with the support of national metrology institutes, an extension to the existing international reference system for international comparisons in radionuclide metrology. The extended system is addressing pure α-, pure β-emitting and some electron capture-decaying radionuclides. The new system is based on a custom-built liquid scintillation counter and the triple-to-double coincidence ratio (TDCR) technique. Particular emphasis was placed on long-term stability and excellent reproducibility in sample preparation. The analytical method is based on a special approach that uses the TDCR value as a parameter to compensate for fluctuations caused by changes in detection efficiency or photomultiplier asymmetries that cannot be excluded when considering very long periods. Measures for quality assurance were established. They are based on periodic controls of unquenched toluene-based liquid scintillation sources with 3H and 14C. In this way, the reproducibility of the system results is demonstrated for a test period of about twenty months.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bureau International des Poids et Mesures, Pavillon de Breteuil, 92312, Sèvres Cedex, France

    Romain Coulon, Sammy Courte, Aldo Dupire, Steven Judge, Carine Michotte & Manuel Nonis

  2. National Centre for Nuclear Research Radioisotope Centre POLATOM, 05-400, Otwock, Poland

    Ryszard Broda

  3. Université Paris-Saclay, CEA, LIST, Laboratoire National Henri Becquerel (LNE-LNHB), 91120, Palaiseau, France

    Philippe Cassette

  4. Norges miljø- og biovitenskapelige universitet (NMBU), 1433, Ås, Norway

    Simon Jerome

  5. Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), Bundesallee 100, 38116, Brunswick, Germany

    Karsten Kossert

  6. National Institute of Metrology (NIM), Beijing, 100029, China

    Haoran Liu

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  1. Romain Coulon
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  2. Ryszard Broda
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  7. Steven Judge
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  10. Carine Michotte
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Correspondence to Romain Coulon.

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Philippe Cassette and Steven Judge: Now retired.

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Coulon, R., Broda, R., Cassette, P. et al. The new international reference system for pure α- and pure β-emitting radionuclides and some electron capture decaying radionuclides by liquid scintillation counting. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 331, 3221–3230 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-022-08337-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-022-08337-7

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