Re: best LSC picks

[Schoenhofer <schoenho@via.at>]

At 11:40 30.05.1996 -0500, you wrote:
>We are considering the purchase of a new liquid scintillation
>counter.  Has anyone out there purchased a new one lately?  What
>manufacturer, model, etc. did you purchase?  ARe you happy with
>it, what do you like or dislike about it.  Any suggestions,
>recommendations appreciated.
>
>D. Steva
>University of Virginia
>dps3c@virginia.edu
>
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Deborah,

You asked about a recommendation about a new LSC. Unfortunately you did not
specify what you want to use your counter for. You want to perform Radio
Immuno Assays? You want to make in vitro measurements of protein binding
capacities, hormone analysis, clinical analysis? Do you want to monitor
discharges from nuclear installations? Do you want to measure environmental
concentrations of artificial radionuclides? You want to do radon analysis in
indoor air! All of this and more can be done by LSC.

In case of environmental analysis, where extremely low concentrations of
both artificial and natural radionuclides have to determine I can tell you
that we have purchased over the last 11 years five ultra low-level counters
of the type "Quantulus" and have replaced all measurements using gas flow
counters by methods which use liquid scintillation spectrometry. The
advantages are clear: Easy measurement-sample preparation and high
efficiency (for alphas approximately 100%). We have ever since been content
with the counters and will go on using them in our routine work, which
comnprises gross alpha+beta counting, tritium, radium 226, C-14, Sr-90 and
so on. 

If this is your field of work then I welcome further questions to me directly

Franz Schoenhofer
Federal Institute of Food Control and Research
A-1095 Vienna
Austria