Evaluation of draft ANSI Sandard N42. 17 by testing

Conference · Sun Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1984

OSTI ID:5891157

Swinth, K L; Kenoyer, J L

Although limited guidance on the performance of health physics instrumentation exists, a broad specification of performance requirements does not exist. Draft ANSI Standard N42.17, Performance Specifications for Health Physics Instrumentation, seeks to rectify this by providing a standard with a broad category of performance requirements and evaluation procedures. The standard was written in 1981 by a task group that included both manufacturers and users of these instruments as well as representation from the regulatory bodies; the second draft of this standard is currently being evaluated by Pacific Northwest Laboratory. Objectives of the study include the evaluation of the applicability and practicality of the proposed standard and the determination of the degree of conformance of a cross-section of currently available commercial instruments to the proposed standard. This standard is being tested against such instruments as ionization chambers, G.M. detectors, alpha survey meters, and neutron dose equivalent survey meters. The proposed standard is broad in scope. Radiological, electrical, mechanical, safety, and environmental performance criteria are specified and tests to evaluate conformance are detailed. This paper presents results of performance tests on ionization chambers, G.M. detectors, alpha survey meters, and some information on neutron rem-meters. This includes the data generated during the tests preceded by a discussion of testing requirements and procedures developed to perform the testing.

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest Labs., Richland, WA (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC06-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 5891157
• Report Number(s): PNL-SA-12011; CONF-840774-3; ON: DE85006959
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

440101* -- Radiation Instrumentation-- General Detectors or Monitors & Radiometric Instruments
440102 -- Radiation Instrumentation-- Radiation Dosemeters
46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
ACCURACY
DOSEMETERS
ELECTRIC BATTERIES
ELECTROCHEMICAL CELLS
GEIGER-MUELLER COUNTERS
HUMIDITY
INTERFERENCE
IONIZATION CHAMBERS
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
MECHANICAL VIBRATIONS
MONITORS
ORIENTATION
PERFORMANCE TESTING
PRESSURE DEPENDENCE
RADIATION DETECTORS
RADIATION MONITORS
SCINTILLATION COUNTERS
SPECTRAL RESPONSE
STABILITY
STANDARDS
SURVEY MONITORS
TEMPERATURE EFFECTS
TESTING
TIMING PROPERTIES