Reference materials produced for a European metrological research project focussing on measurements of NORM

C Larijani; A K Pearce; P H Regan; B C Russell; S M Jerome; M T Crespo; P de Felice; G Lutter; F Maringer; M Mazánová

doi:10.1016/j.apradiso.2017.02.007

Reference materials produced for a European metrological research project focussing on measurements of NORM

Appl Radiat Isot. 2017 Aug:126:279-284. doi: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2017.02.007. Epub 2017 Feb 8.

Authors

C Larijani¹, A K Pearce², P H Regan³, B C Russell², S M Jerome², M T Crespo⁴, P de Felice⁵, G Lutter⁶, F Maringer⁷, M Mazánová⁸

Affiliations

¹ Department of Acoustics and Ionising Radiation, NPL, Teddington TW11 0LW, UK; Department of Physics, University of Surrey, Guildford GU2 7XH, UK. Electronic address: cyrus.larijani@npl.co.uk.
² Department of Acoustics and Ionising Radiation, NPL, Teddington TW11 0LW, UK.
³ Department of Acoustics and Ionising Radiation, NPL, Teddington TW11 0LW, UK; Department of Physics, University of Surrey, Guildford GU2 7XH, UK.
⁴ CIEMAT, Laboratorio de Metrología de Radiaciones Ionizantes, Avda. Complutense 22, 28040 Madrid, Spain.
⁵ ENEA Istituto Nazionale di Metrologia delle Radiazioni Ionizzanti (INMRI), Centro Ricerche Casaccia, I-00123 Roma, Italy.
⁶ Directorate Nuclear Safety and Security, European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Retieseweg 111B-2440 Geel, Belgium.
⁷ BEV Bundesamt für Eich-und Vermes'sungswesen, Arltgasse 35, 1160 Wien, Austria.
⁸ CMI Czech Metrology Institute, Inspectorate for Ionizing Radiation, Radiova 1, 102 00 Prague 10, Czechia.

PMID: 28233595
DOI: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2017.02.007

Abstract

Reliable measurement of Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials is of significance in order to comply with environmental regulations and for radiological protection purposes. This paper discusses the standardisation of three reference materials, namely sand, tuff and TiO₂ to serve as quality control materials for traceability, method validation and instrument calibration. The sample preparation, material characterization via γ, α and Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) and the assignment of values for both the 4n (Thorium) and 4n+2 (Uranium) decay series are described.

Keywords: Environmental radioactivity; Gamma-ray emitting radionuclides; NORM; Reference materials; TENORM.