Laboratory Measurements Of Tritium In Natural Waters Socorro New Mexico PDF Download

A round-robin interlaboratory comparison program to monitor tritium in natural waters has been established. Currently, five independent laboratories are participating in this round-robin program. Tritium standards are prepared by one of the laboratory participants and analyzed by the other participants in each round of the round-robin. This report encompasses the results of the set of standards prepared by the Radiation Analytical Sciences Section of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) for the second round of this enriched tritium intercomparison program. Two aqueous tritium standard solutions, A and B, were prepared by sequential dilution of a National Institute of Standards and Technology [sup 3]H standard. The concentrations of the standards solutions, A and B, were 147 [plus-minus]16 pCi/L[sup 3]H and 444[plus-minus]31 pCi/L[sup 3]H, respectively (2[sigma] uncertainty). One blank solution was also prepared. The standards and blank were prepared using water collected from the Nevada Test Site Potable Water Well 4. This well is known to contain only trace amounts of tritium. The participating laboratories measured the [sup 3]H in standards A and B and blanks by liquid scintillation counting after distillation and electrolytic enrichment or directly via [sup 3]He mass spectrometry. The results reported for standards A and B are within the 2[sigma] uncertainties of the known values. These excellent results reflect the quality of the techniques employed.