EURADOS Intercomparison 2008 for whole body dosemeters

EURADOS was created to be a scientific network of European laboratories involved in research in radiation dosimetry. The objective is to advance the scientific understanding and the technical development of the dosimetry of ionising radiation by stimulating collaboration between European facilities.

Over the last decade, EURADOS has coordinated the working group on Harmonisation of Individual monitoring in Europe (WG2) entrusting them different tasks along the time. With the aim to improve the harmonization of individual monitoring and help the individual monitoring services (IMS) to comply with ISO 17025 standard, the subgroup 2 (WG2-SG2) was assigned to undertake a feasibility study for a self sustained programme of intercomparisons in Europe.

As a result of this work, EURADOS is now running the EURADOS Intercomparison 2008 for whole body dosemeters.

The intercomparison concerns to whole body dosemeters intended to estimate H_p(10) and/or H_p(0,07)  and used routinely in individual monitoring of exposed workers.

The candidate participants were invited to fill in the Application Form. Invoices were sent out to about 50 candidate participants from 21 European countries, planning to participate with a total of about 60 dosimetry systems. The participants are requested to transfer the participation fee of 1250 Euro per participating dosimetry system to the EURADOS bank account before May 9^th. The fee was calculated on a non-profit base and any surplus money will be used primarily for the purpose of harmonisation in individual monitoring and maintaining the expertise in this field within EURADOS.

For this intercomparison a total of 26 dosemeters from each participant IMS will be needed:

1.       20 dosemeters for irradiation

2.       2 transit dosemeters for background control

3.       4 spare dosemeters

The participants will be requested to label the dosemeters following the guidelines provided by the Organization Group and send the dosemeters in a proper packaging to the coordinating laboratory (NRG Arnhem, Netherlands).

Irradiations, restricted to photons, will be performed in an European accredited irradiation facility in terms of H_p(10) and H_p(0,07) in the following ranges:

1.       Energy: 30 keV to 1,3 MeV

2.       Dose: 0,2 mSv to 1 Sv

3.       Angle of incidence: ± 60º

After performing irradiations, the coordinating laboratory will send back the dosemeters to the participants for readout. Within one month after receiving the dosemeters, the participants will be requested to send back the results in terms of H_p(10) and / or H_p(0,07) in a response form provided by the Organization Group.

EURADOS will provide the participants with a “Certificate of Participation” including information on the irradiation qualities, doses imparted, response values and overall uncertainties.

The Organization Group will prepare a report summarizing the results of the intercomparison compared with trumpet curve criteria for photons (ISO-14146). The report will mention the name of the IMS that participated and the type of dosemeter used but the results will be given anonymously.

This report will be presented in a meeting that will be organized to show and discuss the results among the Organization Group and the participants. This meeting will be hold coinciding with the EURADOS Annual Meeting following the end of the intercomparison.

Intercomparison results will be considered by EURADOS as confidential data and only will be used with statistical purposes for technical and scientific studies. The Organization Group will sign a confidentiality clause and both the identity of the participants and the reference data will be known only to a minimum of persons within the Organization Group.

Detailed instructions and guidelines for participants will be provided to the IMS after their participation is confirmed.