A remotely operated, field-deployable tritium analysis system for surface and ground water measurement.

Abstract

We have worked in collaboration with the Westinghouse Savannah River Company and Packard Instrument Company to develop a prototype instrument for remote, near real-time, in situ analysis of environmental levels of tritium in surface and ground water samples. The unit consists of a Packard Radiomatic (super TM) 525TR liquid scintillation counter that has been modified to achieve lower detection levels through background reduction using Packard's After-Pulse Burst Discrimination electronics and an auxiliary Bi (sub 4) Ge (sub 3) O (sub 12) scintillation detector guard. The system is fully programmable to enable remote calibration, sample collection, sample analysis, reconfiguration of operational mode and interrogation for analytical results.