Replacing QUANTULUS: Why SURO chose the Hidex ULLA for tritium analysis
22/05/2025
At a glance
> The Czech Republic’s national radiation protection institute – SURO – is using a Hidex ULLA for 3H analysis.
> As 3H activity concentration decreases in Europe, there are greater demands and challenges for ultra-low-level analysis.
> SURO’s Head of Radiochemistry Dr. Michal Fejgl has found Hidex’s ultra-low-level analyser reaches the same sensitivity as the QUANTULUS GCT 6220 with counting times reduced by over 40%.
Environmental sample analysis
With a focus on protection against ionising radiation, SURO is a part of the Czech Republic’s national system for radiation monitoring. As such, Dr. Fejgl and his department analyse environmental and food chain samples, as well as independently monitoring two nuclear power plants at Temelín and Dukovany. The team would also be responsible for emergency monitoring in the event of an accident.
Finding a suitable replacement for the QUANTULUS
There were two motivating factors for procuring the Hidex ULLA. First, a need to replace an existing TRICARB 3170 TR/SL and second, previous experience with Hidex liquid scintillation counters. Dr. Fejgl said, “We have used the Hidex 300 SL for six years. Its digital lead shield was a new feature at the time, and it was able to meet our original specification of counting tritium at 1.2 Bq/litre. Other models of LSC were both prohibitively expensive in the Czech Republic and employed active shielding, which we found produced misleading results meaning they were unreliable for statistical analysis.
“Considering how many years we have been using the 300 SL and its original cost, I can say we are very happy with its operation, and its maintenance has been very simple.”
“I found the sensitivity to be better than the TRICARB 3170 TR/SL and surprisingly even greater than QUANTULUS GCT.”
After using the Hidex 300 SL for many years, Dr. Fejgl travelled to Hidex’s office in Turku to analyse his own samples on the ULLA personally. He said, “I found the sensitivity to be better than the TRICARB 3170 TR/SL and surprisingly even greater than QUANTULUS GCT. The results were absolutely reliable, so we realised we needed one. What is still fascinating for us is that it completely fulfils our expectations. We believe it will fulfil our requirements for monitoring long-term.”
Decreasing tritium activity concentration in Europe
3H activity concentration in the Czech Republic and other European countries has continued to fall over recent years. Contributing factors include the decommissioning of nuclear power plants, the recovery of the ozone through the phasing out of aerosols which blocks out ultraviolet radiation, and even the natural decay of materials deposited by Chernobyl.
Dr. Fejgl said, “In the last decade, the mean activity concentration of tritium has decreased from 1 Bq/litre to 0.86 Bq/litre. As a result, we needed a system that could offer a minimum detectable activity (MDA) below 1 Bq/litre. This lower limit of detection can be achieved by the ULLA.”
Increased throughput for low activity measurements
Not only has Dr. Fejgl found the Hidex ULLA to be more sensitive, but faster too. “With the QUANTULUS GCT, we had to run measurements for 520 minutes. With the ULLA, we can run measurements in 290 minutes. The ULLA is extraordinarily sensitive in terms of tritium analysis; this sensitivity is precisely why we bought it.”
Find out more
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