SSDL newsletter. No. 44

The first article of this issue of the SSDL Newsletter is the report of the 9th SSDL Scientific Committee Meeting held from 13-17 November 2000. The editor wishes to draw the readers' attention to recommendations xviii, xxi and xxvi of the Scientific Committee, to evaluate the potential needs of SSDLs for the audit and calibration services in diagnostic radiology, brachytherapy and nuclear medicine metrology. For that purpose, the Secretariat of the IAEA/WHO network is preparing a survey form to be sent to all SSDLs of the network. It is hoped that the network members will fill in the questionnaire and return it to the Secretariat as soon as possible. The second article is a technical note prepared by the staff of the Dosimetry and Medical Radiation Physics Section that deals with the ''effect of humidity on measurements with a well type chamber''. Those SSDL members possessing a well type chamber are encouraged to conduct similar frequent constancy checks and submit their contributions to the editor for publication in a forthcoming issue of the Newsletter. Contributions will be duly acknowledged. The third article is a report of the Second Research Co-ordination Meeting (RCM) for the Co-ordinated Research Project (CRP E2.40.07) on ''the development of a quality assurance programme for radiation therapy dosimetry in developing countries'', held at IAEA Headquarters from 4-8 December 2000. The aim of the CRP is to establish national Quality Assurance (QA) networks for external quality audits for radiotherapy hospitals in developing countries. This is done by setting up national External Audit Groups (EAGs) with laboratory backup for operating TLD audits for radiotherapy dosimetry. The main results achieved under this CRP are included in the report. A new SSDL has recently joined our Network: the Laboratory of State Dosimetry Standards of the Belarussian State Institute of Metrology (Gosstandart). The SSDL has been added to the database of the IAEA/WHO Network of SSDLs; the SSDLs are listed on pages 33-34, under Member Laboratories of the IAEA/WHO Network of SSDLs