Quality assurance in personal dosimetry of external radiation: present situation and future needs

Whole body personal dosimetry is well established for the individual monitoring of radiation workers. High quality radiation dosimetry is essential for workers who rely upon personal dosemeters to record the amount of radiation to which they are exposed. The mandate has been given to the Personal Dosimetry, (secondary standard dosimetry laboratories) S.S.D.L., (Malaysian institute for nuclear energy research) M.I.N.T. to assure the individual monitoring for radiation workers in Malaysia. In 2005, the S.S.D.L;-M.I.N.T. supply, process and read out of personal dosemeters of nearly 13,000 dosimeters monthly, whereby. 12,000 are films and 1,000 are T.L.D.s. The objective of individual monitoring is not limited to the measurement of doses delivered to individuals, but it should demonstrate that limits of exposure have not been exceeded and that working conditions have not unexpectedly deteriorated. Dosimetry measurements are an important component of radiation protection programs and must be of high quality. The exposure of workers to radiation must be controlled and monitored in order to comply with regulatory requirements. S.S.D.L.-M.I.N.T; demonstrates that its performance is at an acceptable level by implementing overall system performance, as evidenced by the ISO 9001 certification of the Personal Dosimetry Service in 2002 and ISO/I.E.C. 17025 accreditation to the calibration laboratory in 2004. The certification and accreditation processes achieved the goal by formalizing the recognition of satisfactory performance, and providing evidence of this performance. Overall performances are assessed, personnel operating the system will be trained and are well qualified and all actions will be documented. The paper describes the overview of the Q.M.S. carried out at the S.S. D.L.-M.I.N.T.. During the implementation of Q.M.S. a few areas has been identified for future consideration. These include performance specification and type testing of dosemeters, which provide a yardstick for quality assurance of dosimetric measurements for individual monitoring. It focuses on the appropriate approach on establishing performance test of the chosen personal dosimeter. In assessing adequacy or suitability of a dosemeter for its intended use it is important to have proficiency test data on the dosemeter. This paper will also describe the S.S.D.L. M.I.N.T., with the aim to consider upgrading of its Q.M.S. to the accreditation program. This will be done by expanding the existing accreditation program to cover both the personal dosimeter and the calibration laboratory. (author)