The Metrological Traceability, Performance and Precision of European Radon Calibration Facilities

Abstract

An interlaboratory comparison for European radon calibration facilities was conducted to evaluate the establishment of a harmonized quality level for the activity concentration of radon in air and to demonstrate the performance of the facilities when calibrating measurement instruments for radon. Fifteen calibration facilities from 13 different European countries participated. They represented different levels in the metrological hierarchy: national metrology institutes and designated institutes, national authorities for radiation protection and participants from universities. The interlaboratory comparison was conducted by the German Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) and took place from 2018 to 2020. Participants were requested to measure radon in atmospheres of their own facilities according to their own procedures and requirements for metrological traceability. A measurement device with suitable properties was used to determine the comparison values. The results of the comparison showed that the radon activity concentrations that were determined by European calibration facilities complying with metrological traceability requirements were consistent with each other and had common mean values. The deviations from these values were normally distributed. The range of variation of the common mean value was a measure of the degree of agreement between the participants. For exposures above 1000 Bq/m3, the variation was about 4% for a level of confidence of approximately 95% (k=2). For lower exposure levels, the variation increased to about 6%.

Investigation of the Performance of Various Low-Cost Radon Monitors under Variable Environmental Conditions

“…The technical characteristics of the AlphaGUARD radon monitor, which has been used as the standard that will provide the reference radon concentration at each instant in Room1 of the LNR, are shown in Table 1 . This radon monitor has been calibrated in the calibration chamber of the Laboratory of Environmental Radioactivity of the University of Cantabria (LaRUC) [ 13 , 14 , 15 ], which is accredited according to ISO/IEC 17025 [ 16 ].…”

Radon Exposure Concentrations in Finnish Workplaces

“…The method is based on Makrofol polycarbonate film, which is electrochemically etched after radon exposure. The method has been calibrated by STUK, where the reference radon instrument is traceable to the primary standard maintained by PTB (Braunschweig, Germany) ( Beck et al 2021 ). The method has been accredited by the Finnish Accreditation Service, Finas (Testing Laboratory No.…”

Metrology infrastructure for radon metrology at the environmental level

“…One essential part of the system is the reference radon monitor, used to give the radon concentration inside. In the three cases exposed, the radon monitors have been calibrated at the Bundesamt für Strahlenschutz (BfS), accredited by the national accreditation body for the Federal Republic of Germany DAkkS, according to the ISO standard 17025, which is traceable to the national standards of the National Metrology Institute (PTB) [13]. To validate the two types of low-level 222 Rn emanation sources developed within the traceRadon project, comparison measurements will be performed in low-level radon calibration chambers.…”