In the field of dosimetry for ionizing radiation it is not only necessary to assess uncertainty as a quantitative measure of the quality of a measurement in order to achieve scientific progress but perhaps even more importantly in applications where in the end human health is at stake.
Great interest in this topic was demonstrated by an unexpected large number of participants in the scientific symposium Uncertainties in dosimetry – principles through to practice organised by EURADOS and held on 26th January 2006 at the Health Protection Agency, Radiation Protection Division in Chilton, Oxfordshire, UK. The papers given showed, that although the evaluation of uncertainty is in principle clear and straightforward, it is difficult in practice, as measurements in dosimetry require quite complex models for the evaluation of uncertainty. Therefore, additional guidance appears to be needed.
To
meet that need, CONRAD Work Package 4 ‘Computational Dosimetry’ (WP4)*
is distributing a questionnaire 
in order to establish the status quo and existing problems with the
practical realisation of uncertainty assessment and reporting within
European laboratories. The
analysis of the returns to the questionnaire will help to better support
scientists in taking advantage of uncertainty assessment.
Furthermore, the group provides computational exercises (with the addition of the .xls file for P6 problem) for various problems in dosimetry (the majority of which supported by experimental data), which enable participants to learn uncertainty assessment by doing it. The returns to the exercises and solutions provided by experts will be discussed at a final workshop to be held in fall 2007. Anonymity is guaranteed, however, contributors are invited to present there solutions at the workshop explicitly.
The
replies to both the questionnaire and the problems were
December
15th 2006.
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*CONRAD
is a Coordinated Network for
Radiation Dosimetry , supported by the European Union.
The group engaged in Work Package 4 evolved from the concerted
action "Quality Assurance of Computational Tools for Dosimetry"
(QUADOS) that produced in 2003 the report
Intercomparison on the Usage of Computational Codes in Radiation
Dosimetry (G. Gualdrini and P. Ferrari, eds., available on request
from guald@bologna.enea.it
).