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Title: A Next Generation Digital Counting System For Low-Level Tritium Studies (Project Report)

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1329208· OSTI ID:1329208
 [1]
  1. Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, SC (United States). Savannah River National Lab. (SRNL)

Since the early seventies, SRNL has pioneered low-level tritium analysis using various nuclear counting technologies and techniques. Since 1999, SRNL has successfully performed routine low-level tritium analyses with counting systems based on digital signal processor (DSP) modules developed in the late 1990s. Each of these counting systems are complex, unique to SRNL, and fully dedicated to performing routine tritium analyses of low-level environmental samples. It is time to modernize these systems due to a variety of issues including (1) age, (2) lack of direct replacement electronics modules and (3) advances in digital signal processing and computer technology. There has been considerable development in many areas associated with the enterprise of performing low-level tritium analyses. The objective of this LDRD project was to design, build, and demonstrate a Next Generation Tritium Counting System (NGTCS), while not disrupting the routine low-level tritium analyses underway in the facility on the legacy counting systems. The work involved (1) developing a test bed for building and testing new counting system hardware that does not interfere with our routine analyses, (2) testing a new counting system based on a modern state of the art DSP module, and (3) evolving the low-level tritium counter design to reflect the state of the science.

Research Organization:
Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, SC (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
AC09-08SR22470
OSTI ID:
1329208
Report Number(s):
SRNL-STI-2016-00580; TRN: US1700360
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English