The International Framework for Maintaining Equivalence and Traceability in Radionuclide Metrology
- Ionising Radiation Metrology Consultants Ltd, Teddington, Middlesex TW 11 9PQ (United Kingdom)
- National Institute of Physics and Nuclear Engineering 'Horia Hulubei', Bucharest (Romania)
Confidence that a testing or calibration laboratory consistently obtains reliable results is of major importance to users of laboratory services and participation in proficiency testing schemes provides laboratories with an objective means of assessing and demonstrating the level of confidence that can be ascribed to the reliability of the data they are producing. That level of confidence, in turn, depends on the quality of the proficiency tests and, in particular, on the accuracy of the property values associated with the test samples. In the ideal situation, the relevant property value, such as the activity of a particular radionuclide in a test matrix, will be directly traceable to the SI via comparisons with a national or international metrology institute (NMI). This, in turn, begs the question of, how reliable are the results from that NMI.Demonstration of that reliability at the highest metrological levels is achieved through inter-laboratory comparisons that are conducted between national and international metrological institutes. These are coordinated primarily by the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM) via Key Comparisons or by comparisons within Regional Metrological Organisations (RMOs), with the results from those RMO exercises being linked to the BIPM Key Comparison results. Such programmes have been in place for many years but they have grown in importance and frequency over the past decade. Tabulation of these comparison data has been regularized recently and made available to the user communities via the BIPM Key Comparison Database (KCDB).In the field of ionizing radiation, the radionuclide metrology discipline exhibits a number of special features. For example, these include the number of potential radionuclides in a user sample; the variety of physical and chemical formats that may be presented; the statistical and temporal effects of radioactive decay; the variations in primary standardization techniques; and the restricted applicability of those primary standardization techniques to the full range of potential radionuclides and activities. Each of these, singly or in combination, ensure that there can never be a fully comprehensive set of Key Comparisons which will cover the requirements of the user community and, in turn, compromise the ability to provide a full range of proficiency tests for testing and calibration laboratories.These problems are discussed, in the context of radioactivity measurements, together with the structure and range of Key Comparisons and associated databases at the highest international level that are currently in place to underpin the proficiency tests that are necessary for the user communities in this field of application.
- OSTI ID:
- 21152380
- Journal Information:
- AIP Conference Proceedings, Vol. 1036, Issue 1; Conference: 1. international workshop on proficiency testing in applications of the ionizing radiation and nuclear analytical techniques in industry, medicine and environment, Bucharest (Romania), 6-9 Oct 2008; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.2979087; (c) 2008 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0094-243X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
ORGANIC
PHYSICAL AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
ACCURACY
CALIBRATION
CALIBRATION STANDARDS
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
INTERLABORATORY COMPARISONS
IONIZING RADIATIONS
NUCLEAR DECAY
QUALITY ASSURANCE
QUANTITATIVE CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
RADIOACTIVITY
RADIOISOTOPES
RELIABILITY
STANDARDIZATION
TESTING
VARIATIONS