A Tritium Counter Designed for Routine Laboratory Use

Abstract

An instrument for the rapid routine counting of tritium is described. It utilizes a liquid scintillator with coincidence circuitry, and incorporates a new fixed-cell design. An introductory analysis of the geometry of the system is made. The optimum counting efficiency of the counter for tritium in 25 ml of toluene-based scintillator is 25% with a background of 180 c.p.m. The use of the counter with tritiated water samples and with ¹⁴C/³H mixtures is described.