[Federal Register: April 11, 2002 (Volume 67, Number 70)]
[Notices]
[Page 17728]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr11ap02-106]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Change in Proficiency Testing Standard for Processors of Personal
Dosimeters
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Notice of change of proficiency testing standard.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the National
Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), U.S. Department of
Commerce, began a joint effort in 1981, through an Interagency
Agreement, to provide an accreditation program for processors of
personnel dosimeters. That accreditation program, which is part of the
Technology Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce, is known
as the National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program (NVLAP) for
Ionizing Radiation Dosimetry and is referred to as NIST/NVLAP. The
purpose of this notice is to: (1) Acknowledge publication of a revised
proficiency testing standard for personnel dosimetry performance by
NIST/NVLAP; (2) inform the public and dosimetry processors of this
action; and (3) identify significant changes in the standard.
EFFECTIVE DATE: April 11, 2002.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, CONTACT: Betty Ann Torres, Office of Nuclear
Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
Washington, DC 20555-0001, telephone 301-415-0191, e-mail: BAT@nrc.gov,
or Carroll S. Brickenkamp, National Institute of Standards and
Technology, Department of Commerce, NVLAP, Building 820, Room 286,
Gaithersburg, MD 20899, telephone 301-975-4291,
e-mail: cbrickenkamp@nist.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NRC's regulations (10 CFR 20.1501) require
that personnel dosimeters that need to be processed to determine dose
must be processed and evaluated by a dosimetry processor that holds
current personnel dosimetry accreditation from the NIST/NVLAP.
Proficiency testing, currently required as part of the NIST/NVLAP
accreditation process for Ionizing Radiation Dosimetry, is based on the
standard issued by the American National Standard Institute (ANSI) and
the Health Physics Society (HPS) for personnel dosimetry performance,
ANSI/HPS N13.11-1993, as modified by NVLAP Bulletin Volume II, No. 1,
``DOSIMETRY'' (January, 1995). The bulletin modifies dose equivalent
conversion factors (Ck) found in Tables 2, 3, and C3 of
ANSI/HPS N13.11-1993.
A revision of ANSI/HPS N13.11-1993 was approved by the American
National Standards Institute, Inc. in July 2001, and published as ANSI/
HPS N13.11-2001 in October 2001. A copy of the revised standard is
available for a fee from the Health Physics Society at the following
internet address: http://www.hps.org.
The revision: (1) Adopts the conversion coefficients for photons
issued by NVLAP Bulletin Volume II, No. 1, ``DOSIMETRY'' (January,
1995); (2) reduces the number of test categories, based on radiation
type and energy spectrum, from nine to six; (3) increases the number of
possible radiation sources for test categories to which dosimeters can
be exposed during testing; (4) lowers the permitted tolerance for all
non-accident categories; (5) adds an angle test to the photon category;
and (6) limits the number of individual dosimeters tested that is
permitted to exceed the tolerance level for non-accident, non-neutron
categories.
NVLAP has determined that the revised standard, ANSI/HPS N13.11-
2001, will be implemented in the accreditation process as published.
Contact Carroll Brickenkamp of NIST/NVLAP for information regarding the
implementation of the revised standard, ANSI/HPS N13.11-2001.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 4th day of April, 2002.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Donald A. Cool,
Director, Division of Industrial and Medical Nuclear Safety, Office of
Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 02-8793 Filed 4-10-02; 8:45 am]
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