Simultaneous measurement of tritium and radiocarbon by ultra-low-background proportional counting

Emily Mace; Craig Aalseth; Tom Alexander; Henning Back; Anthony Day; Eric Hoppe; Martin Keillor; Jim Moran; Cory Overman; Mark Panisko; Allen Seifert

doi:10.1016/j.apradiso.2016.12.033

Simultaneous measurement of tritium and radiocarbon by ultra-low-background proportional counting

Appl Radiat Isot. 2017 Aug:126:171-174. doi: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2016.12.033. Epub 2016 Dec 21.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, 902 Battelle Blvd, MSIN J4-65, Richland, WA 99352, USA. Electronic address: Emily.mace@pnnl.gov.
² Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, 902 Battelle Blvd, MSIN J4-65, Richland, WA 99352, USA.

PMID: 28017502
DOI: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2016.12.033

Abstract

Use of ultra-low-background capabilities at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory provide enhanced sensitivity for measurement of low-activity sources of tritium and radiocarbon using proportional counters. Tritium levels are nearly back to pre-nuclear test backgrounds (~2-8 TU in rainwater), which can complicate their dual measurement with radiocarbon due to overlap in the beta decay spectra. We present results of single-isotope proportional counter measurements used to analyze a dual-isotope methane sample synthesized from ~120mg of H₂O and present sensitivity results.

Keywords: Dual-isotope measurements; Proportional counting; Radiocarbon; Tritium; Ultra-low-background.