**HPIC Meeting Notes**

**Monday, 5/01/00**

**PERSONNEL ATTENDEES FROM:**

LLNL DOE-EH SRS

HANFORD LANL Rocky Flats

ORNL Alpha-Idaho Grand Junction

Y-12 Pantex WIPP

INEEL West Valley Argonne East

BNL PNNL Battelle-Columbus

LLRI

Dale opened the meeting with introductions.

**Presentation Summary**

**Status of ANSI N323 series - Morgan Cox**

Morgan presented information about each standard:

-   A is published,

-   B is being worked on by Ed Walker with unknown status

-   C is being developed and is moving along. Michelle Johnson and Mark
    Hoover chair it.

-   D is close to completion and is chaired by Peter Chiaro.

**Status of N42 standards - Morgan Cox**

-   Morgan described the differences between N13.27 and 42.20 that
    address electronic dosimetry. 13.27 is still in draft. 42.20 has
    been out since 1995.

-   Morgan also reported on the status of the 42.17 series (A is being
    revised) and the others will follow.

**Report on International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC)standards
Morgan Cox**

-   Morgan went over list of documents being worked on based on Work
    Group projects.

-   The work groups included WG5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, and 13 of IEC TC 45,
    SC 45B.

**Uncertainty Analysis Information - Elliot Lesses and Dale Snowder**.

-   Review of paper to be presented at 2000 HPS meeting "Portable survey
    instrument calibration uncertainties" B. L. Rich, B. I. Smith, R.
    Morris, Alpha, Idaho

-   Analysis performed at Rocky Flats using NIST 1297 as a basis.

**AMUG Meeting Report - Grant Cefalo**

-   Grant provided an overview of the recent AMUG meeting held at PNNL.
    Some of the topics mentioned included:

-   a discussion about the Canberra field Pu monitor,

-   an update on the AMUG Alpha CAM qualification process.

**HPIC Presentations at the 2000 HPS meeting - Morgan Cox**

Wednesday 2:30 to 5:15 PM

> 1\. Review and Summary of the Proceedings of the Health Physics
> Instrument Committee (HPIL) Meeting of November 1999.
>
> 2.Review and Summary of the Proceedings of the Air Monitoring Users
> Group (AMUG) Meeting of March 2000.
>
> 3\. Development and Status of ANSI Standard N323D-Test and Calibration
> of Fixed Radiation Monitors.
>
> 4\. Revision and Status of ANSI Standard N42.17A-Performance
> Specifications for Health Physics Instrumentation, Portable Survey
> Meters under Normal Environmental Conditions.

5\. Performance of Several Radiation Dosimeters and Dose Rate Meters at
Airliner Altitudes.

6\. Use of the Eberline Alpha-6S Continuous Air Monitor at the Oak Ride
Y-12 Plant.

7\. An Overview of Qualification Testing of Alpha Continuous Air
Monitors.

> Use of the NE/Bicron IPM Personnel Contamination Monitor as a
> Substitute Whole Body Counter to Eliminate Annual Bioassays.
>
> 8\. Sampling Duration, Counting Schedules and the Indicated Natural
> Gross Background in Air

**Report on 450P Ion Chamber - Morgan Cox**

-   Morgan reported on measurements performed using the instrument while
    operating in high altitudes.

**HPGe Sourceless Efficiency Calibration with ISOCS Software - Radoslav
Radev**

-   Canberra product.

-   Discussion over regulatory acceptance.

**Acceptance Testing of Siemens EP2 Mark 2 - Elliot Lesses**

-   Handout provided. Contact Steering Committee for copies.

-   During presentation comments were made regarding the deterioration
    of gaskets that would increase the RF susceptibility of the unit.

-   The testing reported was Rocky Flats radio. Did not perform complete
    42.20 susceptible testing.

-   Comments made about the units being susceptible to drill motors and
    cell phones.

**Re-Engineering Quality/SOP System of Procedures - Paul Zahra**

-   Handout provided. Contact Steering Committee for Copies.

-   Reported that they (BNL) want to eliminate model-specific cal
    procedures.

-   They also have pay-based training.

-   The new program is expected to take 1.5 years to implement.

-   Wants to use generic SOPs and model specific OJTs and data sheets.

-   The use of generic procedures caused discussions with many opinions
    exchanged.

**Gate Monitor Performance Tests - Dale Snowder**

-   Testing performed using Bicron ASM-3000, Eberline Vanguard, and
    Ludlum Models. Exploranium not included.

-   Tests were performed at Pacific Steel and Recycling May of 1998
    using Cs-137 and AM-241.

-   Appeared to be some discrepancy in the data since Ludlum was not as
    good in the "easy" setup as it was in the "hard" setup.

**MARLAP (Multi-Agency Radiation Laboratory Protocol) - Dale Snowder**

-   Reported on its existence.

-   Dale stated that it will provide consistent approach for analysis of
    radionuclides.

-   Provided a web site address, WWW.epa.gov/radiation/marlap/

**Neutron instrument evaluation performed at SRS - Fred Ogden**

-   Provided information about Harwell and ESM instruments that they
    looked at.

-   That they are used for scanning, not dose-equivalent rate
    measurement.

-   Light Weight

**Tuesday, 5/2/00**

**Presentation from Inovision**

-   Provided background of 450B and 450P model ion chambers.

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-   The presenter stated that the model was updated in 1994.

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-   The update included incorporating surface mount components and the
    use of a larger ion chamber.

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-   The chamber has an equivalent wall thickness of 246 mg/cm2.

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-   They provide a 5-year warranty if the unit is returned for annual
    calibration.

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-   The cost of an annual cal is approximately \$160.

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-   Provided overview about their new calibration lab and gamma and
    x-ray capabilities.

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-   Currently perform approximately 900 repairs per month.

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-   Do not have neutron capability.

**830.120 Enforcement letter - Gary LaBruyere**

-   Gary presented a copy of a letter that was sent to PAAA
    coordinators.

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-   Recommended that all check their procedures to ensure that we do
    what we say.

**Primary Standards Lab meeting report - Gary LaBruyere**

-   Gary reported on the meeting he attended at the Kansas City plant.

-   Discussion focused on their implementation problems with Z540 and
    qualification of supplies.

**Aptec NRC - Bill Richardson**

-   Bill Richardson provided a handout about their ABP-100.

**Bicron Presentation - Joe Belian**

-   Discussed the Bicron-NE Electra

-   Provided a substantial handout that described the testing of the
    Electra with a DP6 probe.

**Ludlum presentation - Drew Carson**

-   A question/answer session based on their presentation from Cocoa
    Beach.

-   Free Flow discussion about determination of MDA and new products.

-   Mentioned the 2360-A that would allow 8 probes to be daisy chained
    together and a new plastic-scintillator based portal monitor with
    and without a foot detector was available.

-   Bill Schaper mentioned that Ludlum offers free training at the
    Ludlum facility, and was valuable to programs using Ludlum products.

**Eberline presentation - Mike Galegos**

-   Went over the status of sales and manufacturing. All operations are
    now located in Santa Fe.

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-   Reactor Experiments is in the process of moving to Sante Fe.

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-   Mike Truitt is the new product manager for contamination monitors.

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-   Alpha 7s are now shipping.

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-   The SHP-400 (ion chamber/E-600 combination) is now limited to 2.5
    R/hr.

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-   Eberline is coming out with an auto log/auto cycle version of the
    E-600 and their Users Group meeting will be held from 8/8 to
    8/10/2000 in Sante Fe.

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-   Grant Ceffelo stated that on his E-600s, once the 80% battery
    indication is displayed, the battery will go quickly.

-   Comments and discussion indicated that most thought this was a
    battery issue that may not be related to the E-600.

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-   Discussion about the PCM-1 jumper.

-   Pete Chiaro provided some historical information about the reasons
    for the jumper.

-   Galegos stated that Eberline's position is that the trouble light
    will not take the unit out of service and the Jumper is an option.

**Report on the test and performance of selected instruments**

**Ludlum**

-   INEEL didn't receive anything from either Ludlum or Eberline,
    nothing to report.

-   Jeff Lively received 3 instruments but 2 of the 3 had light leaks.

-   Pete Chiaro reported on the results of the ORNL part of the
    evaluation.

**Eberline E-600/SHP-380AB**

-   No real information was presented since instruments weren't
    available for evaluation.

-   Murari suggested that someone be assigned the responsibility of
    coordinating any testing performed.

-   A discussion followed that concluded that there was not enough
    information at this time to make any decisions regarding the
    instruments selected for evaluation.

-   Grant stated that his organization currently spends approximately
    300K/year supporting 100-140 E-600s.

-   He is reducing the inventory to about 20 by the end of the year due
    to the amount of field failures.

-   He stated that the instrument model is not suitable for use in his
    environment.

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-   Grant to prepare a report on the subject.

**Ludlum Q&A session**

-   Ludlum attended a question and answer session.

-   They were surprised about the light leaks since the units were
    tested prior to shipment.

-   Pete Chiaro informed them of the difficulty observed in reading the
    meter due to function response.

-   Ludlum will look into this and send three units back to ORNL.

**Eberline Q&A session**

-   Grant told Eberline about his facility's problems with the E-600.

-   Included in his discussion was the failure rate of the proprietary
    connector and PMT problems with magnetic fields.

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-   Joel Hoyt (PNNL) mentioned an issue associated with a jumper on the
    PCM-1B.

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-   Eberline stated that its customers were split on whether the jumper
    should be a default configuration. The suggestion was made that they
    move the discussion of this jumper from into the Setup section of
    the Users Manual. Eberline agreed that this sounded like a good
    idea.

**General Discussion**

-   The need for a test coordinator was again mentioned.

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-   LANL will need Ludlum instruments for evaluation.

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-   A vote was taken to include Bicron-NE Electra with 2 for, 9 against,
    and 6 abstaining.

-   A move was made to include the Electra in the evaluation based on
    the presentation made earlier.

-   Jeff Lively questioned the reason for voting to include them when
    they weren't included based on their original presentation.

**HPIC Accomplishments since 1994 - Dale Snowder**

-   Dale provided a history of the HPIC including a summary of the
    financial impact of the committee.

-   Murari requested that Dale provide him a summary of his presentation
    for publication in a DOE newsletter.

**Committee Reorganization Discussion - led by Dale Snowder**

-   Discussion regarding the HPIC organization.

-   Pete Chiaro presented a breakdown of various options on how to
    organize the committee.

-   Gary presented information on Steering Committee organization.

**Wednesday, 05/03/00**

**Continued Discussion on Committee Reorganization**

-   The discussion began with a motion from Fred Ogden to grandfather
    all existing voting members. The motion was seconded and a
    discussion followed.

-   A vote was eventually taken on the membership of Billy Price (Alpha
    Group) and Dale Snowder (Alpha-Idaho). The results were 13 for, 4
    no, and 5 abstaining.

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-   1\. A series of votes were taken and the members in attendance
    selected a Steering Committee based organization.

-   2\. The steering committee will consist of 4 members to serve for 2
    years with a vote required after one year initially.

-   3\. The steering committee would be responsible to the agenda,
    schedule, and charter revision.

-   4\. A vote was taken on who would be the members of the first
    steering committee with the following people being elected: Gary
    LaBruyere, INEEL, Fred Ogden, SRS, Jim Hallgren from
    Battelle-Columbus, and Joel Hoyt from PNNL.

**Open Forum Discussion**

-   Grant mentioned his observations of the Bicron-NE \"Endura\" alpha
    probe design. He has not been able to reproduce de-lamination
    failures (previously observed) and that the design appears to work
    well.

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-   Elliot Lesses reported on the possibility of bad batteries for
    Seimens EPDs.

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-   Grant reported on SKC personal air samplers and warranty issues.

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-   Paul Zahra talked about a segmented release monitor being used for
    soil at Brookhaven. He also mentioned issues they have found with
    the method used by the Eberline AMS-4 for background subtraction.
    Chiaro informed him of the problems found at ORNL a few years ago
    with cable connectors on the detectors. Joel Hoyt noted that the
    test at the Nevada Test Site were unsuccessful.

-   Joel Hoyt proposed meetings be held annually. This was based upon
    the lack of documented recent cost savings attributable to Committee
    activity, and the ability to effectively communicate remotely.
    Members generally felt that it would be appropriate to maintain
    semi-annual meetings at least through reorganization.

-   Joel Hoyt proposed changing the meeting location away from Coco
    Beach and Las Vegas. He suggested making use of a location near a
    participating DOE facility, where travel costs are not prohibitive
    (e.g., ANL/Chicago). The statement was made that the current
    locations are the most cost effective. Joel committed to perform a
    cost analysis that would include travel costs from each DOE facility
    to several proposed locations (Chicago, Coco Beach, Las Vegas, Lon
    Island, Livermore, Albuquerque, and Denver). Per Diem costs at the
    host location, rental cars (as appropriate), and the cost of
    convention services.

-   

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-   Murari asked for comments regarding calibration intervals

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-   SRS has adjusted calibration intervals (pancake GMS from 6 months to
    12 months using NCRP No. 113 Basis).

-   Discussion about using "broken" as founds in determining failure
    rates. Some use it, but the majority of attendees do not.

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-   Gary will be sending out an update survey so that the web page can
    be updated properly.

**Location and Agenda for Next Meeting**

-   NASA was selected for the site of the next meeting.

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-   Steering Committee reorganization,

-   R&D of special instruments for Trojan R&D work.

-   MARRSIMS Update (Jeff Lively)

-   Standards Update (Morgan. Cox, Pete. Chiaro)

-   AMUG Meeting

-   HPIC WEB page Update

-   Alpha/Beta instrument test results and selection

-   Gamma Cam

-   Demographics of HP instruments across US (Dale Snowder

-   Specialized survey with; RO-7 (Bill Schaefer)

-   Vendor for AB counting system (Joel Hoyt)

-   Calibration frequency (Elliot Lesses)

-   Russian Technology HP instruments marketed by Bicron