Radionuclide traceability for US Department of Energy Environmental Management Radioanalytical Services

In 1999, the Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management (DOE-E M) National Analytical Management Program (NAMP) established a Radiological Traceability Program (RTP) as a new initiative for the radioanalytical aci tivies related to the environmental programs conducted throughout the DOE c omplex. The National Analytical Management Program entered into an interage ncy agreement with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST ) to establish traceability to the national standard for DOE-EM radioanatyt ical. activities through the NIST/reference laboratory concept as described in ANSI N42.23-1996.(1) Using the criteria established by the RTP, NAMP na med two DOE-EM laboratories as reference or secondary laboratories and esta blished a program with NIST that demonstrated the concept of traceability. In order to gain and maintain traceability to NIST, each reference laborato ry must meet the performance criteria as defined by the RTP and NAMP. Trace ability to NIST is tiered down to each radioanalytical laboratory (monitor or service) that successfully participates in the performance-evaluation pr ograms offered by the reference laboratories. Essential to the RTP is the d emonstration that the reference laboratories can produce performance-testin g (PT) materials of high quality as well as analyze/verify the radionuclide concentration to the required accuracy and precision. This paper presents the elements of the RTP and the program requirements of NIST and the refere nce laboratories.