Liquid scintillation alpha counting and spectrometry and its application to bone and tissue samples

Conference · Thu Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1976

OSTI ID:7185018

McDowell, W J; Weiss, J F

Three methods for determination of alpha-emitting nuclides using liquid scintillation counting are compared, and the pertinent literature is reviewed. Data showing the application of each method to the measurement of plutonium concentration in tissue and bone samples are presented. Counting with a commercial beta-liquid scintillation counter and an aqueous-phase-accepting scintillator is shown to be accurate only in cases where the alpha activity is high (several hundred counts/min or more), only gross alpha counting is desired, and beta-gamma emitters are known to be absent from the sample or present at low levels compared with the alpha activity. Counting with the same equipment and an aqueous immiscible scintillator containing an extractant for the nuclide of interest (extractive scintillator) is shown to allow better control of alpha peak shift due to quenching, a significant reduction of beta-gamma interference, and, usually, a low background. The desirability of using a multichannel pulse-height analyzer in the above two counting methods is stressed. The use of equipment and procedures designed for alpha liquid scintillation counting is shown to allow alpha spectrometry with an energy resolution capability of 200 to 300 keV full-peak-width-at-half-peak-height and a background of 0.3 to 1.0 counts/min, or as low as 0.01 counts/min if pulse-shape discrimination methods are used. Methods for preparing animal bone and tissue samples for assay are described.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab., Tenn. (USA); UT-ERDA Comparative Animal Research Lab., Oak Ridge, Tenn. (USA)
• OSTI ID: 7185018
• Report Number(s): CONF-760640-1
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
400103 -- Radiometric & Radiochemical Procedures-- (-1987)
440101* -- Radiation Instrumentation-- General Detectors or Monitors & Radiometric Instruments
440103 -- Radiation Instrumentation-- Nuclear Spectroscopic Instrumentation
46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
ALPHA SOURCES
ALPHA SPECTROMETERS
ANIMAL CELLS
BACKGROUND RADIATION
BODY
BONE CELLS
CONNECTIVE TISSUE CELLS
COUNTING TECHNIQUES
ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT
ENERGY RESOLUTION
ION SOURCES
LIQUID SCINTILLATION DETECTORS
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
MULTI-CHANNEL ANALYZERS
PARTICLE SOURCES
PULSE ANALYZERS
RADIATION DETECTORS
RADIATION SOURCES
RADIATIONS
RESOLUTION
SCINTILLATION COUNTERS
SCINTILLATION COUNTING
SOMATIC CELLS
SPECTROMETERS
TISSUES