A new radiometric method for the detection of coliform bacteria in water has been described. The method is based on the release of (14)CO(2) from [(14)C]lactose by bacteria suspended in growth medium and incubated at 37 C. The evolved (14)CO(2) is trapped by hyamine hydroxide and counted in a liquid scintillation spectrometer. The method permits the detection of 1 to 10 organisms within 6 h of ...

The Oriented Scintillation Spectrometer Experiment (OSSE) on the Arthur Holly Compton Gamma Ray Observatory satellite uses four actively-shielded NaI(Tl)-CsI(Na) phoswich detectors to provide gamma-ray line and continuum detection capability in the 0:05 ? 10 MeV energy range. The instrument includes secondary capabilities for gamma-ray and neutron detection between 10 and 250 MeV. The detectors...

An intermediate image beta-ray spectrometer has been constructed utilizing the focusing properties of a Ushaped magnetic field distribution. The construction and performance of the instrument are discussed. A transmission of ten percent has been attained with a resolution of about six percent. A scintillation spectrometer is used in conjunction with the intermediate image spectrometer for the p...

The Organic Bound Tritium (OBT) amount in the body may induce changes in the evaluation of the internal exposure to tritium, due to its different retention time relative to HTO. OBT measurements for urine are not performed routinely, mainly because of the lengthy work needed in preparation of the samples, when using the standard oxygen combustion method. A simpler and more rapid method based on...

The uncertainty in measurements of gross alpha and beta activities in water samples by liquid scintillation counting with alpha/beta discrimination has been evaluated considering the problems typical of low-level measurements of environmental samples. The use of a pulse shape analysis device to discriminate alpha and beta events introduces a correlation between some of the input quantities, and...

Over the last few decades many techniques have been developed for determination of Sr/Y in the environment. Čerenkov counting technique (developed in the 1960s) is widely used, but can be further developed by the application of emerging technologies. For example, it is believed that the application of the triple-to-double coincidence ratio (TDCR) liquid scintillation counting method can be used...

Measurements with a bare p-type high purity germanium diode (HPGe) submerged in a 19 kg liquid argon (LAr) scintillation detector at MPIK-Heidelberg are reported. The liquid argon–germanium system (LArGe) is operated as a 4π anti-Compton spectrometer to suppress backgrounds in the HPGe. This R&D is carried out in the framework of the Gerda experiment which searches for 0νββ decays with HPGe det...