title: Background characterization of an ultra-low background liquid scintillation counter.
abstract: The Ultra-Low Background Liquid Scintillation Counter developed by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory will expand the application of liquid scintillation counting by enabling lower detection limits and smaller sample volumes. By reducing the overall count rate of the background environment approximately 2 orders of magnitude below that of commercially available systems, backgrounds on the order of tens of counts per day over an energy range of ~3-3600keV can be realized. Initial test results of the ULB LSC show promising results for ultra-low background detection with liquid scintillation counting.
authors.affiliation: Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77840, USA; Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87544, USA. Electronic address: jerchinger@lanl.gov.
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Erchinger
authors.affiliation: Pacific Northwest Laboratory, Richland, WA 99352, USA. Electronic address: john.orrell@pnnl.gov.
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Orrell
authors.affiliation: Pacific Northwest Laboratory, Richland, WA 99352, USA.
authors.forename: C E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Aalseth
authors.affiliation: Pacific Northwest Laboratory, Richland, WA 99352, USA.
authors.forename: B E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Bernacki
authors.affiliation: Pacific Northwest Laboratory, Richland, WA 99352, USA.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Douglas
authors.affiliation: Pacific Northwest Laboratory, Richland, WA 99352, USA.
authors.forename: E S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Fuller
authors.affiliation: Pacific Northwest Laboratory, Richland, WA 99352, USA.
authors.forename: M E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Keillor
authors.affiliation: Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77840, USA.
authors.forename: C M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Marianno
authors.affiliation: Pacific Northwest Laboratory, Richland, WA 99352, USA.
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Morley
authors.affiliation: Pacific Northwest Laboratory, Richland, WA 99352, USA.
authors.forename: C A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Mullen
authors.affiliation: Pacific Northwest Laboratory, Richland, WA 99352, USA.
authors.forename: M E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Panisko
authors.affiliation: Pacific Northwest Laboratory, Richland, WA 99352, USA.
authors.forename: G A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Warren
keywords: Liquid scintillation counting; Low background; Shallow underground laboratory