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The present comment concerns the correct presentation of the equations giving the CW-OSL intensity in the case of second- and general-order kinetics. Those equations have also been published with their wrong formulation in two eminent books in their topic. Since most researchers (especially early stage) would use directly the proposed functions as published in the various sources, they should be notified of their correct formulation., (© The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Liquid scintillator (LS)-encapsulated silica was prepared by the sol-gel method and then was added dropwise onto a wipe paper to form a paper scintillator. First, the efficiencies of wipe were determined for both the paper scintillator and the wipe paper using a liquid scintillation counter (LSC). The efficiencies of wipe using the paper scintillator and the wipe paper were 88 and 36 %, respectively. The detection efficiencies were 5.5 % for the paper scintillator, 46 % for the wipe paper using an LS and 0.08 % for the (3)H/(14)C survey meter, respectively, compared with that of a melt-on scintillator of 47 %. Second, an (3)H contaminant on the paper scintillator was successfully detected using a photomultiplier without an LSC or an (3)H/(14)C survey meter. Finally, the paper scintillator was able to detect beta rays of the (3)H contaminant easily without an LS.

This paper describes the development of the Safety Performance Indicators (SPIs), the methodology for assessment of the safety culture of radiotherapy institutions using SPIs and common strengths and common areas for improvement. SPIs were categorized into eight sections which all together contain 23 attributes and each attribute has scoring criteria from 0 to 2 (in steps of 0.5). The maximum absolute cumulative score of SPIs was 46. A relative cumulative SPIs score of >80% indicates an institution strong commitment towards safety while score <50% indicates need for additional guidance to enhance safety culture. The assessment using SPIs was conducted for 17 radiotherapy institutions. The methodology of assessment includes interactive discussion, direct observations and document analysis. The relative cumulative SPIs score of seven institutions was found to be >80% while it was found in the range of 67.0% to 80% for the remaining ten institutions. Institutions were communicated about the cumulative SPIs score, areas of strengths, and areas for improvement. SPIs were found to be a good tool for safety culture assessment and can be utilized by the radiotherapy institutes for self-assessment to identify the areas of improvement. Based on SPIs score, regulatory body can grade the institutions from a radiation safety compliance point of view., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

There has been an increase in the use of high energy photon beam for container scanners in many countries for multi purposes such as detecting high atomic number materials which might be nuclear materials, drugs, high explosive materials and other contrabands etc. High energy photon beams generally 6 and 9 MV can be used for scanning such materials. However, it is important to ensure that radiation level beyond the container scanner installation is within the permissible dose limit specified by the national competent authority for the protection of public and radiation workers. In this paper, challenges in the biological shielding during the installation of high energy X-ray system for scanning vehicles containing suspected materials are discussed. The purpose of the present study is to develop a methodology for shielding design and evaluation for container scanner installations. The basic concept pertaining to shielding evaluation of radiotherapy installations provided in National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP)/International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reports are referred, and appropriately used to calculate optimized shielding thicknesses requirements for container scanner installation. Workload is estimated based on number of containers scanned, machine ON time and dose rate at 1 m. The shielding evaluation includes use of beam stopper in the primary beam, scattering by heterogeneous metallic scrap materials or any other suspected materials contained in the vehicle and their impact on the thickness of shielding walls. A model lay out plan to be used for installation of container scanner is developed. A methodology for shielding evaluation for various protective walls and ceiling of this model is also discussed. The study provides basic requirement for designing a structural room for installing 9MV container scanner from radiological safety view point., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

This paper presents the concentration of uranium in 67 groundwater samples of Chamarajanagar district, Karnataka, India, estimated using an LED fluorimeter. The age-dependent ingestion dose to the population of the district is also studied. The concentration of uranium in groundwater varied from 0.20 to 57.50 μg L-1 with an average of 4.40 μg L-1. The annual ingestion dose due to uranium varies from 0.18 to 142.68 μSv y-1, with an average of 7.11 μSv y-1. The ingestion dose received by the population in the study area is less than the recommended level of 100 μSv y-1 by the World Health Organization (2011)., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

The mission of Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) of India is to ensure that the use of ionising radiation and nuclear energy in India does not cause unacceptable impact on the workers, members of the public and to the environment. AERB has the mandate to carry out detailed safety review for the siting, construction, commissioning, operation and decommissioning of nuclear and radiation facilities established within the country. To deliver and maintain a strong, credible and technically sound regulation, AERB has established the Safety Research Institute (SRI) at Kalpakkam with a robust technical infrastructure and wide knowledge base. This paper highlights the independent safety research activities carried out at SRI and its role to support and facilitate the decision-making process by AERB at various stages of regulatory review for ensuring safety of the nuclear facilities in India., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Radiation dosimetry is an important task for assessing the biological damages created in human being due to ionising radiation exposure. Ionising radiation being invisible and beyond the perception of human natural sensors, the dosimetry equipments/systems are the utmost requirement for its measurement. Retrospective measurement of radiation doses is a challenging task as conventional radiation dosemeters are not available at the exposure site. The material/s in close proximity of exposed individual or individuals' biological samples may be used as retrospective radiation sensor for dosimetry purpose. Environment materials such as sand, bricks, ceramics, sand stones, quartz, feldspar, glasses and electronic chips have been utilised using TL (Thermoluminescence) techniques for retrospective gamma dose (min 10 cGy) measurement. Electron Spin Resonance techniques have been employed to human biological samples such as tooth enamel, bones, nails, hair, etc. and reported for dosimetry for ~20 cGy min dose measurement. Some commercial glasses have been found sensitive enough to measure the minimum gamma doses of the order of 100 cGy using TL techniques. For internal retrospective dosimetry, the radioactivity contamination assessment in food items, water, other edible product and ambient air are the prerequisites. The radioactivity concentration vis-à-vis their consumption rate may help in controlling the internal contamination and estimation of dose absorption in human body. Defence Laboratory, Jodhpur has been working extensively on the dosimetry techniques for external dose measurement using environmental material and developed portable contamination monitoring systems for food and water radioactivity measurement in the range of 50 Bq kg-1 to 1000 kBq kg-1 in 60 s measurement time. The recent research and development in the methodologies, equipments and systems undertaken towards capacity building and self-reliance in retrospective radiation dosimetry is reported in this paper., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

This research forms a part of the comprehensive Indian Environmental Radiation Monitoring Network program, focusing on the continuous measurement of absorbed dose rate in outdoor air due to natural gamma radiation (cosmic and terrestrial) in Bengaluru, Karnataka, India. Over the course of a decade (2013-2023), data were collected from 41 monitoring locations in the city using permanently field-installed Geiger-Mueller detector-based environmental radiation monitors. This paper presents an analysis of the extensive long-term monitoring results. The mean absorbed gamma dose rate in outdoor air across the monitoring locations ranged from 84 ± 9 to 156 ± 4 nGy.h-1, with a calculated mean value of 124 ± 15 nGy.h-1. The estimated mean annual effective dose due to outdoor natural gamma radiation varied from 0.10 ± 0.01 to 0.19 ± 0.01 mSv.y-1, with an overall mean of 0.15 ± 0.02 mSv.y-1., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

The metrological quality of a measurement is characterised by evaluating the uncertainty in the measurement. In this paper, uncertainty in personal dose measured using individual monitoring CaSO4:Dy-based thermoluminescence dosimeter badge is evaluated by application of the guide to the expression of uncertainty in measurement method. The present dose reporting quantity, whole body dose (WBD) and the proposed quantity, personal dose equivalent, Hp(10) has been used as measurands. The influence of various input quantities on the measurement were analyzed through tests that conform to the requirements of the International Electrotechnical Commission IEC 62387. The study found that the expanded uncertainties for WBD and Hp(10) measurements were 63.4% and 41.4%, respectively, corresponding to a 95% coverage probability for workplace fields covering a wide photon energy range (33-1250 keV). However, the uncertainty estimates were quite lower for the type of workplaces that are identified using the dose evaluation algorithm. The input quantities, namely, the response to a mixture of photon beam qualities and photon energy and angular dependence contribute the most to the total uncertainty., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Due to wide prevalence of electromagnetic field (EMF) sources in human surrounding, EMF-level measurements and corresponding exposure assessment have imposed as an important topic. With an intention to present an approach to the long-term exposure assessment in EMF RATEL network, this paper conveys a high-level statistical analysis of the high-frequency exposure data, acquired during the 5-y time period, for the case study of monitoring sensor installed in the area of the Novi Sad University campus. Time series of exposure values were averaged on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis, and their yearly comparison was performed. Results showed clear differences between the day and night hours, as well between working and weekend days. Regarding exposure values, averaged on the monthly basis, the impact of COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021 can be noticed. Finally, the highest obtained exposure values (electric field squared) were 22 times below the maximal allowable level, according to the Serbian legislation., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

This paper describes a procedure for the estimation of 241Am and 239Pu activity present in the human tissue by measuring the depth of contaminant using a portable Planar High Purity Germanium detector (HPGe). The ratios of photopeak counts of X-rays or gammas obtained with the detector coupled to collimator are calculated for the estimation of depth of the contaminant and the optimum one is determined. Since Minimum Detectable Activities (MDA) for the detector coupled to a collimator are higher than that of bare detector, activity must be estimated using bare detector, after locating the contaminant. Two methods are described for the estimation of plutonium coexisting with 241Am: (i) Abundance and isotopic correction for 239Pu (ii) and 239Pu:241Am ratio. The procedure to estimate 239Pu when plutonium isotopes alone are present is also established. An optimum monitoring period to detect the minimum value of intake for both radionuclides corresponding to chelation therapy and excision is also derived., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Interventional cardiology is characterized by high radiation exposure for both the patient and the operator. Adequate shielding and monitoring of the operator are fundamental to comply with radiation protection principles. In a previous work, the effect on the dose of the dosemeter position on the chest was studied. In this paper, the investigation has been completed, employing an anthropomorphic thorax phantom, equipped with arms. Although there are differences between the Monte Carlo simulations and the measurements, similar trends are observed, showing that the reduction in dose, due to the arms, is between 20 and 60%, compared with the situation without arms. For that reason, considering a dosemeter placed on the chest, the upper position, which is the least affected by the arms, should be preferred while the extreme lateral position, near the armpit, should be avoided., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

The objective of this paper is to compare the differences between volumetric CT dose index (CTDIVOL) and size-specific dose estimate (SSDEWED) based on water equivalent diameter (WED) in radiation dose measurement, and explore a new method for fast calculation of SSDEWED. The imaging data of 1238 cases of head, 1152 cases of chest and 976 cases of abdominopelvic were analyzed retrospectively, and they were divided into five age groups: ≤ 0.5, 0.5 ~ ≤ 1, 1 ~ ≤ 5, 5 ~ ≤ 10 and 10 ~ ≤ 15 years according to age. The area of interest (AR), CT value (CTR), lateral diameter (LAT) and anteroposterior diameter (AP) of the median cross-sectional image of the standard scanning range and the SSDEWED were manually calculated, and a t-test was used to compare the differences between CTDIVOL and SSDEWED in different age groups. Pearson analyzed the correlations between DE and age, DE and WED, f and age, and counted the means of conversion factors in each age group, and analyze the error ratios between SSDE calculated based on the mean age group conversion factors and actual measured SSDE. The CTDIVOL in head was (9.41 ± 1.42) mGy and the SSDEWED was (8.25 ± 0.70) mGy: the difference was statistically significant (t = 55.04, P < 0.001); the CTDIVOL of chest was (2.68 ± 0.91) mGy and the SSDEWED was (5.16 ± 1.16) mGy, with a statistically significant difference (t = -218.78, P < 0.001); the CTDIVOL of abdominopelvic was (3.09 ± 1.58) mGy and the SSDEWED was (5.89 ± 2.19) mGy: the difference was also statistically significant (t = -112.28, P < 0.001). The CTDIVOL was larger than the SSDEWED in the head except for the ≤ 0.5 year subgroup, and CTDIVOL was smaller than SSDEWED within each subgroup in chest and abdominopelvic. There were strong negative correlations between f and age (head: r = -0.81; chest: r = -0.89; abdominopelvic: r = -0.86; P < 0.001). The mean values of f at each examination region were 0.81 ~ 1.01 for head, 1.65 ~ 2.34 for chest and 1.71 ~ 2.35 for abdominopelvic region. The SSDEWED could be accurately estimated using the mean f of each age subgroup. SSDEWED can more accurately measure the radiation dose of children. For children of different ages and examination regions, the SSDEWED conversion factors based on age subgroup can be quickly adjusted and improve the accuracy of radiation dose estimation., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

In the calibration procedure of area gamma dosemeters, how to accurately evaluate and correct the scattering contribution from the complex environmental factors to the point of test is the key problem to ensure the calibration accuracy. This paper proposed a fast correction method of the scattering contributions in the area gamma dosemeter calibration field. First, Monte Carlo method is employed to simulate the influence of scattering caused by different environmental factors in the calibration field, which is named as semi-panoramic reference radiation field. Then, a prediction model of the relationship between environmental factors and environmental scattering contribution is constructed based on the simulation data through the least squares support vector machine. With the model, the scattering contribution from the environmental factors can be fast estimated to correct the calibration results of the area gamma dosemeters, which will improve the accuracy of the calibration., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

This work aimed to support Albania's food safety monitoring regime. In this context, the natural and artificial radioactivity was measured in 20 samples of dried fruits collected randomly in different markets of Tirana. The activity concentration of 40K, 226Ra, 232Th and 137Cs was determined by using the high-purity germanium detector. The maximum values of activity concentration in dried fruits were calculated as 517 ± 22 Bq kg-1 for 40K, 11.10 ± 0.93 Bq kg-1 for 226Ra, 4.38 ± 0.26 Bq kg-1 for 232Th and 0.83 ± 0.14 Bq kg-1 for 137Cs. The average values of activity concentration of 40K and 226Ra were 269and 6.05 Bq kg-1 and the average effective dose to individuals from the intake of the dried fruits was 44 μSv y-1. All average values in this study were lower than recommended values by reports United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effect of Atomic Radiation, World Health Organization and International Commission on Radiological Protection for all age groups. Therefore, all dried fruit samples in this study are safe for consumption with acceptable radiological risk and none of them pose any significant radiological impact. The obtained data in this paper and information for levels of radioactivity and ingestion absorbed dose from dried fruits can be used to be the basic data for future comparative analysis of the other studies., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

The European Association of National Metrology Institutes (EURAMET) within its research programme European Metrology Programme for Innovation and Research (EMPIR) funded project EMPIR 19NET03 supportBSS that contributes to the establishment of a European Metrology Network (EMN) for Radiation Protection (RP). The EMN-RP was established in September 2021 with the intent to work as a meeting point for the metrology community and all stakeholders in the field of ionising radiation regulation, thus providing quality assurance for measurements in each of the exposure situations contemplated in the European Legislation. Within project EMPIR 19NET03, work package 3 aims at the preparation of a Strategic Research Agenda (SRA) by identifying the metrology needs to support the European legislation and regulation in Radiation Protection and of two Roadmaps for metrology services, one under the European Council Directive 2013/59/EURATOM and the other under the EURATOM Treaty. Following a Gaps Workshop held in September 2020 and a second internal workshop that took place in April 2022, a questionnaire was prepared for distribution to the stakeholders, e.g. RP platforms and authorities, academia, industry, among other, together with an accompanying paper. In this paper, the authors present the state of the art of European legislation in RP, address the importance of metrology, the practices and activities that need metrology to meet the requirements set in the regulations, emphasise the need for quality assured measurements in all fields, highlight the stakeholders contributions in their specific area and show their vision of the EMN-RP., (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Recently, a new operational quantity Hp(30)water has been proposed to replace Hp(10). This paper describes a new proposed procedure for calibrating personal dosemeters, for X and gamma radiations, in terms of this new quantity Hp(30)water. Compared to the current procedure based on Hp(10), the proposed procedure requires fewer steps and it is easier to implement. Indeed, this new procedure is based on the direct measurement of the quantity of interest, unlike the current one that necessitates the measurement of an intermediate quantity, the air kerma and then the use of conversion coefficients. Some of the advantages of the proposed procedure, such as no need of conversion coefficients to determine the value of the quantity of interest, and no need of additional material to ensure the conditions of electronic equilibrium of the secondary electrons, are highlighted. The feasibility of the proposed procedure is verified. The fluence-to-Hp(30)water conversion coefficients are measured for Cs-137 and Co-60 radiation qualities, and are found in good agreement with those available in the literature., (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

As the power performance of electric vehicles continues to improve, the human body may be exposed to electromagnetic threats in the cabin. This study tested an electric vehicle to analyze the low-frequency magnetic field distribution in the cabin and to assess the safety of human low-frequency magnetic field exposure. A simulation analysis of human electromagnetic exposure was carried out to obtain the magnetic flux density, induced electric field strength and induced current density, and the test results were much lower than the limits specified in GB8702-2014 and the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection, and the relative error between the simulation results and the test results was <15%. This paper investigates the frequency, driving current, vehicle body material and cable layout to explore the law of human body induced electromagnetic field changing with power cable current, and provides theoretical reference for the design of human body low-frequency magnetic field protection., (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

The Indian Environmental Radiation Monitoring Network continuously monitors the outdoor natural gamma absorbed dose rate in air at different locations throughout India by employing Geiger-Mueller (GM) detector-based field-installed environmental radiation monitors (ERMs). Hyderabad, Telangana, India is known to have high natural background radiation levels due to the presence of high concentrations of primordial radionuclides in its granitic rocks. There are a total of 59 ERMs installed at various locations across Hyderabad. Long-term monitoring data of these locations are presented in this paper. The mean values of outdoor natural gamma absorbed dose rate in air at the monitoring locations were found to vary in the range of 104-258 nGy.h-1 with a mean of 193 ± 40 nGy.h-1. The mean annual effective dose due to outdoor natural gamma radiation was estimated to be 0.24 ± 0.05 mSv.y-1. Analysis of the long-term seasonal variation of outdoor natural gamma absorbed dose rate in air showed that the same was lowest during monsoons., (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

In this paper, the details of the development and performance characterisation of a compact, low-power gamma spectrometer for environmental gamma radiation monitoring networks are presented. To reduce the power consumption and the size of the spectrometer, a gamma detector comprising a silicon photomultiplier coupled to a Gd3Ga3Al2O12:Ce,B (GGAG:Ce,B) scintillator has been used for gamma spectrometry. Initially, a Monte Carlo simulation study was carried out to verify the suitability of the 5 mm × 5 mm × 5 mm GGAG:Ce,B crystal for spectrometry of gamma sources in the energy range 60-1332 keV. For minimising the power consumption, the signal processing electronics has been custom designed. This electronics was realised using standard off-the-shelf components to reduce the cost. The developed spectrometer is of size 16 cm × 10 cm × 6 cm, weighs 600 g and consumes 600 mW power. The spectrometer is developed such that it could be directly interfaced with GSM/Xbee for wireless communication with the radiation monitoring networks. The lower-level discriminator threshold of the system is 40 keV and the total electronic noise is <20 keV. The experimentally measured sensitivity of the spectrometer for 137Cs (662 keV) is 2.4 cps/μGy/h at 3.5 V overvoltage. The spectrometer offers excellent linearity over the measured energy range of 60-1332 keV and an energy resolution of ~10% for 662 keV gamma-ray at room temperature., (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

This paper provides a practical overview of the mesh-type reference phantoms (MRCPs) published by the ICRP by providing supplementary guidance on the proper implementation of using the MRCPs in computational codes, such as Monte Carlo N-Particle. Various validation scenarios for photon and neutron exposures were also examined where published values were reproduced using the MRCPs for both external and internal exposures. Generally, the MRCPs performed well in the validation scenarios with the values reproduced being within 10% of the published values., (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Phosphate ore is the starting raw material for production of all phosphate products including fertilisers phosphate waste. It can be of sedimentary, volcanic or biological origin. Like any other geological material found in nature, it contains various amounts of naturally occurring primordial radionuclides, such as 238U series, 232Th series and 40K. Gamma-ray spectrometry was used to assess natural radioactivity levels and radiological hazard indices in phosphate samples. In this paper, the specific activity concentrations of 226Ra, 232Th and 40K of phosphate ores, merchant and mine waste samples were determined. Based on the activity concentrations, the radiation hazard indices (Raeq, Hex, Hin and I𝛾𝑟), and the radiation doses (D, AED and ELCR) were calculated. The results were discussed and compared with those from other studies as well as recommended safety limit values., (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

X-rays are widely used in interventional cardiology (IC). Medical staff is exposed to ionising radiations with difficulties to accurately estimate the absorbed dose, on the other hand, it is well known that eye lens and extremities are the most exposed. In most IC units, radiological monitoring is performed by measuring the personal dose equivalent with a dosemeter worn under the operator's apron. The ambient dose equivalent is, usually, also measured. Furthermore, doses to the lens and extremities are often not measured because of the absence or difficulty of wearing the appropriate dosemeters. The main aim of our study is to estimate the extremities doses, of the interventional cardiologists, from the personal dose equivalent, the patient's received doses or to the ambient dose equivalent. For this purpose, we use a radiological monitoring, of four (04) interventional cardiologists, carried out at Algiers hospital. A Monte Carlo calculation is performed for comparison. This paper reports the preliminary results of this study., (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Results of the preliminary measurements of indoor radon, thoron and progeny concentrations showed very high values of thoron concentrations in the eastern coastal region of Odisha, India. Therefore, measurements of thoron and its progeny concentrations were extended to a larger number of houses in this area for the assessment of the radiation dose received by the public. The measured values of thoron concentrations were used for the calculation of annual effective doses. The estimated values of the annual effective dose due to thoron exposure were observed in the range of 0.2-14.7 mSv. The estimated radiation doses responsible for thoron exposure were observed considerably high in the region. The results obtained are compared with those obtained in other studies performed so far in the study area and a review of different studies involving different measurement techniques is presented in the paper. The results of this study support the preliminary studies showing high values of thoron levels in the study area., (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Since its inception, the international quality standard ISO/IEC 17025 has been revised twice. The most recent edition adopted a new structure to align with other conformity assessment and quality management standards, harmonized the terminology with the International Vocabulary of Metrology and introduced the concept of risk-based thinking. This paper disseminates the experience of the IAEA Radiation Safety Technical Services Laboratory in successful transition and re-accreditation to ISO/IEC 17025:2017. It covers all stages of the transition cycle: from conducting a gap analysis between the existing quality system and the requirements in the revised standard, updating the corresponding quality documents, developing training and communication plans for laboratory personnel, to monitoring the changes and improving the system through auditing, management review and participation in proficiency testing schemes. Lessons learned about building operational resilience and maintaining a business continuity management system to prepare for, respond to, and recover from disruptions are considered., (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Extremely important aspects of the boron neutron capture therapy are, first of all, administering to the patient a boron compound that selectively reaches the neoplastic cells, and in the second step, the verification of the irradiation process. This paper focuses on the latter aspect, which is the detailed dosimetry of the processes occurring after the reaction of thermal neutrons with the boron-10 isotope. The results of computer simulations with the use of a new type of human head phantom filled with a polymer dosimetric gel will be presented in this article., (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press.)

The purpose of this paper is to describe a method for optimizing the calibration period of a dosimetry measurement system with a focus on the personal dose equivalents Hp(d) and individual monitoring services. The systematic and analytical method developed provides a justification to the calibration interval based on experimental data and measurement uncertainties. Its main input is the metrological history of the equipment that is then used to predict the drift of the measurement system. The method is used to make the calibration operation more efficient over time in terms of cost and metrology. After a description of the method itself, the example of the OSL dosemeter reading process will be discussed and results will be shown. The method developed may be applied to other measurement processes no matter the technology used., (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Starting in 2008 the European Dosimetry Group (EURADOS) has been performing international intercomparisons (ICs) on photon whole-body dosemeters for individual monitoring services. These ICs have been organized (on a biennial basis) starting 2008 up to 2020 now, each time with a similar set-up but with small alterations in the subsequent irradiation plans. The response for Hp(10) and Hp(0.07) was tested for different radiation qualities, angles of incidences (0°-60°) within a wide range of dose values (0.5-500 mSv), to check energy and angular response, linearity, reproducibility and mixed-field response. Within the last 12 years almost 15 000 whole body dosemeters have been irradiated and the corresponding response values evaluated. With an increasing number of participants and participating systems (from 62 to 132), this IC program has become an important tool for individual monitoring services to test their whole-body dosimetry systems, compare their results with other services or systems and to improve the quality of their dosimetry. The paper presents and compares the general results of these seven ICs and analyses the dosimetric results for the participating system types., (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

The International Commission on Radiation Units and Measurements, ICRU, have recommended, in ICRU Report 95, the adoption of new operational quantities for use in radiation protection monitoring. Their implementation will pose problems for instrument manufacturers supplying area dosemeters and for individual monitoring services providing personal dosemeters for radiation workers. The problems arise for photon, neutron and beta dosimetry, but this paper deals solely with neutron personal dosemeters based on poly-allyl diglycol carbonate (PADC) plastic. It presents information on the problems to be expected based on data from calibrations of actual personal neutron dosemeters in terms of the existing dose quantities., (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

The aim of this paper is to present the results obtained by the Latin-American and Caribbean personal dosimetry services that participated, with the support of IAEA, in the 2020-Eurados whole-body dosemeter intercomparison for photon radiation. All participant services in this study use thermoluminescent dosimetry (TLD) systems except one that uses optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dosemeters. Data analysis shows that 93.4% of the results are within the acceptance range, according to International ISO Standard ISO 14146: 2018. The evaluation of the trumpet curves shows that only three laboratories presented a few dosemeters results outside the limits of acceptability. Participation in this Eurados intercomparison exercise gave the Latin American and Caribbean laboratories the opportunity to show compliance with their own quality management system, to compare results with other participants and to develop plans for improving their dosimetry systems. It also gave the assurance that occupational doses are being measured properly and following the international standards in the regions., (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)