Optimization of the liquid scintillation counting technique for the European interlaboratory comparison on gross α/β activity concentrations in water

Abstract

A liquid scintillation counting (LSC) measurement method optimization for the gross α/β activity analysis in drinking waters with different chemical and radionuclide composition was performed. The optimized method was suitable to provide gross radioactivity results in drinking waters with the levels of the accuracy and precision similar to those obtained using other radioactivity screening techniques. Robust LSC results contributed to the calculation of gross α/β activity reference values of EC-JRC interlaboratory comparison water samples in 2012. Some of the most common errors in the determination of the gross radioactivity using the LSC are presented.