Re: H-3 on submarines

[Keith Welch <welch@CEBAF.GOV>]

At 01:51 PM 5/21/96 -0500, you wrote:

>The limits for removable contamination were 450 uuCi (yes, micro-micro curies 
>[called "micky-mikes"], or E-12; don't ask ME why "pico" wasn't used) per
100 cm^2.
>The smears were counted on a tungsten/alloy-shielded GM pancake detector
set-up in 
>the "nuke" lab.  The limit corresponded to 250 cpm above background, as
marked by 
>a movable needle on the meter face.
>
>
>Pertaining to this protocol, has anything changed in the last 25 or so years? 

---------------------------------------------------------

None of that has changed ... but the setup you describe is insensitive to
tritium, which is what the original questions and comments pertained to.
Also, generally, 450 mickymikes usually corresponds to about 100 cpm net on
a pancake gm (assuming Co-60 and ~ 10% beta eff.)  Outside of Navy nuc, it's
usually quantified in dpm instead of uuCi.

Keith Welch
Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility
Newport News VA
welch@cebaf.gov