The effect of quench agent on urine bioassay for various radionuclides using Quantulus ™ 1220 and Tri-Carb ™ 3110.

Following a radiological or nuclear incident, the National Response Plan has given the Department of Health and Human Services / Centers for Disease Control and Prevention the responsibility for assessing population's contamination with radionuclides. In the public health response to the incident, valuable information could be obtained in a timely and accurate manner by using liquid scintillation counting techniques to determine who has been contaminated above background for alpha and beta emitting radionuclides. The calibration plays a major role in this process therefore, knowing the effect of quench agents on calibration is essential.