The Scripps Institution of Oceanography has chosen the Hidex 300SL liquid scintillation counter from IN/US Systems for measuring radioactivity on board an oceanographic research vessel.
The Department of Shipboard Technical Support at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography advises marine scientists working on the open seas on viable alternatives to scientific instruments designed with conventional (and stable) laboratory benches in mind.
Acknowledging that using radioisotopes on oceangoing research ships provides a number of challenges, the department considered a variety of the liquid scintillation counters.
According to Scripps, the 300SL is robust enough to operate under the harsh conditions sometimes experienced at sea.
The counter is said to be relatively simple to set up and secure to a bench top because it does not have the shielding designs of other counters.
Its Triple to Double Coincidence Ratio (TDCR) counting method is also seen as an advantage because it does not need an external or internal radioactive source for determining counting efficiency, which simplifies international shipment.
'The small footprint of the 300SL is beneficial, as space management is always an issue on a ship,' said Scripps.
An external desktop PC or laptop is used to control the instrument and perform data analysis and the software can also export the data directly or via a network to Excel or other programs.
