NIST MQA for environmental radioactivity measurements

The Ionizing Radiation Division of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has implemented several quality assurance programs to provide a consistent basis for environmental-level national and international ionizing radiation measurement credibility and comparability. These programs cut across a variety of sectors that include: (1) personnel protection; (2) survey-instrument calibration; (3) environmental radiochemistry and (4) radiobioassay. The four basic elements of the MQA programs are: (1) conformance to promulgated consensus criteria; (2) documented inhouse quality assurance and control practice; (3) periodic performance evaluations using appropriate testing materials and instruments; and (4) periodic on-site assessments by technical experts. The periodic performance evaluations are important for the demonstration of measurement traceability to the national and international physical standards. Traceability testing, however, must be augmented by the other elements to provide the strongest rationale for measurement assurance. This paper will describe the NIST programs and future directions for new programs.