Radiation Instrumentation Standardization Efforts at Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Prior to 1990, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) made use of multiple models of radiation instrumentation for protection of personnel. Some equipment was designed and manufactured at ORNL with others being provided by commercial manufacturers. Due to age, component availability, and maintenance and manufacturing costs, a plan was developed and implemented to replace all existing radiation protection equipment with commercial units. In order to ensure that appropriate and reliable equipment was obtained, a series of tasks were needed. The proposed presentation will describe the process, as summarized below, and relate those efforts to standardization efforts for equipment (systems and components) used by the IAEA. The first task was to establish a group that had the authority to approve equipment for use at ORNL. This group was called the ORNL Health Physics Instrument Committee (HPIC). The committee chair was granted authority to establish policy for radiation protection equipment. The committee consisted of representatives from the radiation protection organization (users), criticality safety, radiation calibration, instrument repair and maintenance, and facility management. At the same time, test protocols or procedures were developed, which became the Instrument Testing and Evaluation Program. Test protocols were based on consensus standards (US National and International) to ensure that all selected equipment was appropriate for use at ORNL. In addition, a new facility was developed called the Environmental Effects Laboratory. Specifications were issued to obtain equipment for evaluation. Each instrument model was evaluated based on the test protocol, and based on the results of the evaluation, which included instrument users, the HPIC approved or disapproved the model.