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Description / Abstract:
Scope and purpose
This standard establishes specific calibration and
calibration-related requirements for portable radiation protection
instruments used for detection and measurement of levels of
ionizing radiation fields or levels of radioactive surface
contamination. For purposes of this standard, portable radiation
protection instruments are those battery-powered instruments that
are carried to a specific facility or location for use. Count rate
meters and scalers, when used with an appropriate detection probe
for quantifying activity, can be considered portable radiation
protection instruments and should be treated as a single unit for
the purposes of this standard.
NOTE—These instruments are normally hand-held during operation
and may include alarming capability.1
Portable radiation protection instruments provide direct readout
of, or readout proportional to, dose or dose equivalent, dose rate
or dose equivalent rate, or activity per unit area (i.e., active
probe area). For the portable radiation protection instrumentation
addressed in this standard, the dose and dose equivalent rate range
of operation is taken as background to 10 Gy/h (1000 rad/h) and
background to 10 Sv/h (1000 rem/h). The activity-per-unit-area
range for surface contamination monitors is taken as
0.01Bq/cm2 – α (60 dpm/100 cm2) or 0.05
Bq/cm2-β (300 dpm/100 cm2) to 200 Bq/cm2 (1.2
× 106 dpm/100 cm2).
1 Notes to text, tables, and figures are for
information only and do not contain requirements needed to
implement the standard.
This standard defines the calibration and calibration-related
requirements for portable rate and integrating devices for beta,
photon, and neutron radiations, and monitors for surface
contamination (alpha, beta, and photon). Specific requirements for
calibration of low-range i.e., near background to 10 μSv/h (1
mrem/h), portable survey instruments will be provided for those
instruments used to measure background level dose and dose
equivalent rates. Portable radiation protection instruments
intended for use in underwater survey and monitoring are included
in this standard.
Personnel dosimeters, including electronic pocket dosimeters and
hybrid pocket dosimeters/dose equivalent rate meters, covered in
ANSI N42.20 are outside the scope of this standard. Specific
requirements for personal radiation detectors (PRDs), spectroscopic
PRDs (SPRDs), and alarming electronic personal emergency radiation
detectors (PERDs) are detailed in ANSI N42.32 [B9], ANSI N42.48
[B14], and ANSI N42.49A [B15], respectively. Radon monitoring
instruments are not within the scope of this standard. Specific
requirements for all air monitoring instruments are detailed in
ANSI N323C. Specific requirements for installed instruments that
measure dose or dose equivalent, or dose rate or dose equivalent
rate, and AC-powered instruments used only to detect the presence
of radioactive material and/or radioactive contamination are
detailed in ANSI N323D, ANSI N42.35 [B12], and ANSI N42.38
[B13].
Special-purpose instrumentation, such as radionuclide
identification instruments and emergency postaccident radiological
monitors, will fall under the scope of one or more related ANSI
standards. For example, ANSI N42.17A [B7] sets forth requirements
for instrument performance. ANSI N42.33 [B10] and ANSI N42.34
[B11], provide requirements for Homeland Security portable
instruments.