Scintillation counter background

The 99 keV y-quanta are usually counted with Nal(Tl) scintillation counters or Ge(Li) diodes in transmission geometry. A Cd absorber should be used to reduce the background counting rate of the K X-rays and to avoid pile-up of the different X- and y-rays (cf. Fig. 4 in [325]). 

Liquid scintillation counting has been used frequently for the measurement of environmental technetium. The specimens to be analyzed are treated by chemical procedures to obtain a technetium-bearing sample solution, which is mixed with a cocktail for scintillation counting. A low background scintillation counter with an anticoincidence system can be used for high precision measurements at a detection limit of 1-25 mBq. 

After exposure, the outside surface of the cast was cleansed until the activity of the washes was less than 10X the background of a gamma well scintillation counter. The cast was cut into separate bifurcations and airway sections and each section was counted to determine the amount of aerosol deposited. Sane samples contained both airway and bifurcation sections because of the complex configuration of the cast. For combination samples, the total activity deposited was equally apportioned between each of the airways and bifurcations. End airways were included for determination or total deposition but not in any of the analyses because flow disturbances at open ends may have affected deposition. The surface area of each sample was measured separately. The surface density for each cast segment was calculated by dividing the activity measured in the sample by the interior surface area of that sample. 

Liquid scintillation counters are highly efficient for low CL intensities and consist of two photon-counting channels provided with a variable discriminator. The sample is placed between these two detectors to ensure a high optical efficiency. The discriminator is adjusted to allow photon impacts to be transmitted and small background noise pulses to be rejected. As disadvantages they suffer from saturation errors and provide nonlinear relationships between the CL intensity and the total counts. 

In INAA, a rock or mineral sample is irradiated in the reactor. The irradiated sample is removed from the reactor, and the dangerous radioactivities are allowed to decay. Then the sample is placed into a counter and the y-rays emitted by each element in the sample are counted. A variety of counters are used, including scintillation counters, gas ionization counters, or semi-conductor counters. For the most precise results, background counts in the detectors produced by electronic noise, cosmic rays, and other radioactive decays must be eliminated. The technique is very sensitive, and samples as small as a few tens of milligrams can be measured. 

Liquid scintillation counter, 14C, dpm, against background (see below). 

Low-level counting of y-ray emitters using solid scintillation counters is an extensively used technique. The most important aspect of low-level solid scintillation counting is to decrease the counter background. Typical contributions to a solid scintillation counter s background rate from various sources are shown in Table 19.3. 

Exempt Radioactive Wastes. The radioactive waste classification system in the United States does not include a general class of exempt waste (see Table 1.1). Rather, many products and materials that contain small amounts of radionuclides (e.g., specified consumer products, liquid scintillation counters containing 3H and 14C) have been exempted from requirements for use or disposal as radioactive material on a case-by-case basis. The various exemption levels are intended to correspond to low doses to the public, especially compared with dose limits in radiation protection standards for the public or doses due to natural background radiation. However, the exemption levels are not based on a particular dose, and potential doses to the public resulting from use or disposal of the exempt products and materials vary widely. 

Beta particle calibration sources span energies from about 100 to 3,000 keV for proportional counters, and down to a few keV for liquid scintillation counters. In this experiment, a low-background, gas-flow, end-window proportional counter with automatic sample changer for alpha- and beta-particle counting is calibrated. Beta-particles sources are counted with pulse-height discrimination to eliminate interference from alpha particles the discriminator may be turned off when no alpha particles are present. 

Exactly 1.7 mg of a purified enzyme (MW =55,000) was incubated with an excess of iodoacetamide-C (S.A. = 2 fiCii mmole). The car boxy methylated protein was then precipitated, washed free of unreacted iodoacetamide-C , dissolved in a small amount of buffer, and the entire solution counted in a scintillation counter operating at 80% efficiency. In one hour, the sample gave 13,190 counts above background. Calculate the number of reactive SH groups per molecule of protein. 

Radioactive counting Fractions containing or label may be counted either in a low-background gas-flow counter or in a scintillation counter. Only the latter method is sufficiently sensitive to deal with the weak )3-emission of compounds. 

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