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(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 Bi4Ge3O12 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.