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Characteristics of the combustion water of organically bound tritium (OBT) measurements of fish samples

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Abstract

Improving accuracy and precision of measurements of organically bound tritium (OBT) activity concentration in environmental samples has become a key aspect of the study of radiological effects by scientists and regulators. Significant quenching effects are known to occur in the measurement of fish samples for OBT using a liquid scintillation counter. In this study, the quench effects of fish and vegetable samples were investigated, as well as the ionic composition of the samples following combustion, neutralization and distillation processes. Furthermore, revised water equivalent factors of various foodstuffs for OBT measurement were calculated using the Health Canada database.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank co-op students Alex Manassis, Sydney Toole and Monique DePippo. The research funding was provided by Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL’s) Science and Technology program (RD-2.7.1-001-7239).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental Technologies Branch, Canadian Nuclear Laboratories, Chalk River, ON, K0J 1J0, Canada

    F. Farrow, S. B. Kim, M. Bredlaw & T. Chaput

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  1. F. Farrow
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  2. S. B. Kim
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  3. M. Bredlaw
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  4. T. Chaput
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Correspondence to F. Farrow.

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Farrow, F., Kim, S.B., Bredlaw, M. et al. Characteristics of the combustion water of organically bound tritium (OBT) measurements of fish samples. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 312, 433–441 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-017-5218-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-017-5218-x

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