Conclusion

Liquid scintillation techniques are still widely used to measure radionuclide activity. The field of application covers not only the measurement of radioactivity in the environment, but also the various industries that use radionuclides, such as the nuclear fuel cycle, healthcare, research and defense. Increasing the luminous efficiency of liquid scintillators remains a major avenue of improvement for this technique, but a possible increase in the quantum efficiency of photodetectors would also enable a significant increase in detection efficiency. The widespread use of portable detectors for in-situ measurements will also enable liquid scintillation techniques to be applied in fields that were previously inaccessible. Examples include field measurements in the event of accidental radioactive contamination, and the possibility of calibrating very short-lived radiopharmaceuticals used in...