Js. Morton et al., Radionuclide traceability for US Department of Energy Environmental Management Radioanalytical Services, J RAD NUCL, 248(1), 2001, pp. 175-177
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.