Office for Domestic Preparedness 

U.S. Department of Homeland Security 

Washington, DC 20531

ODP Information Bulletin 

No. 168 May 19, 2005 

TO: All State Administrative Agency Heads 

All State Administrative Agency Points of Contact 

FROM: Matt A. Mayer 

 Acting Executive Director 

SUBJECT: Updated Information on the Testing of Radiation Detection Equipment 

BACKGROUND: The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently completed the 

first round of the evaluation of radiation detection instruments to be used by 

emergency responders and others involved in the prevention, detection, mitigation and 

recovery from potential radiological or nuclear events. The purpose of this testing was 

to determine the performance capabilities of equipment against criteria set out in 

existing American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standards. Testing against 

performance capability specifications is a necessary step towards ensuring that 

emergency responders and other homeland security personnel will be equipped with 

the best available technology to alert them to the presence of radioactive materials, such

as those that can be used to construct radiological dispersal devices (RDD) and 

improvised nuclear devices (IND). 

Commercially-available, off the shelf (COTS) instruments for radiological and nuclear 

detection were tested by the National Institute for Science and Technology (NIST) 

against ANSI/Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) standards (ANSI 

N42.32-2003, N42.33-2003, N42.34-2003 and N42.35-2004) and their associated Test and 

Evaluation (T&E) protocols. The results from these tests provide guidance for Federal, 

State and local officials to use in their evaluation and purchasing of radiological and 

nuclear detection equipment. 

The initial test and evaluation efforts of instruments under the above described 

standards were performed by four Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratories 

(Oak Ridge National Laboratory; Pacific Northwest National Laboratory; Lawrence 
Livermore National Laboratory; Los Alamos National Laboratory), with coordination, 

technical management and data evaluation by the NIST. The tests were designed to 

determine the effectiveness of radiological and nuclear detection instruments that may 

be used by first responders to interdict materials and respond to radiological incidents. 

Each instrument was tested according to the provisions in the standards and protocols. 

The types of instruments evaluated in the first round of testing (started in April 2004 

and completed in February 2005) included: alarming personal radiation detectors 

(pagers), portable survey meters, portable radionuclide identifiers and portal monitors. 

Basically, an instrument passed, failed or was conditionally passed relative to a given 

test. In addition, a grading system was used for each test so as to be able to crosscompare results among the various instruments of a given category. 

RESULTS: The test results were published in four reports: 

1) “Results of Test and Evaluation of Commercially Available Personal Alarming 

Radiation Detectors and Pagers for the Department of Homeland Security” 

2) “Results of Test and Evaluation of Commercially Available Portal Monitors for 

the Department of Homeland Security“ 

3) “Results of Test and Evaluation of Commercially Available Radionuclide 

Identifiers for the Department of Homeland Security” 

4) “Results of Test and Evaluation of Commercially Available Survey Meters for the 

Department Homeland Security” 

The tests results are summarized at the beginning of each report. A short description, a 

picture and the list of specifications for each instrument tested, as extracted from the 

manuals provided by the manufacturers, is provided for each instrument. At the end of 

each report a table lists the corresponding ANSI standard and associated T&E protocol 

requirements. These test results will soon be posted on the Responder Knowledge Base 

(RKB) website. 

Although none of the radiological and nuclear detection equipment passed all of the 

tests, the reports provide a snapshot of how the equipment performed and how it 

compared to similar types of equipment subjected to the same tests. This is valuable 

information for emergency responders looking to acquire radiological and nuclear 

detection equipment. This information can assist responders in the selection of 

appropriate equipment based upon required performance capabilities and the 

environment in which it is to be used. 

Given our present environment of no ANSI-compliant radiological and nuclear 

detection equipment, grantees should note that Information Bulletin #133 does not 

preclude the purchase of items not meeting these standards. Until such time as 

radiological and nuclear detection equipment meeting the ANSI specifications is 

available, the acquisition of non-ANSI compliant equipment with ODP funds is 
allowable and authorized. However, grantees who procure commercially-available 

radiological equipment that does not meet the ANSI specifications are urged by ODP to 

include provisions within their equipment procurement contracts whereby 

vendors/manufacturers must retrofit or replace equipment that fails to meet 

requirements of the standards as soon as compliant equipment is available. In the 

meantime, ODP will continue to work with its ANSI, DHS, and other Federal partners 

on further radiological testing of commercially-available equipment and will keep 

grantees appraised of any developments related to this subject. 

RESOURCES: The NIST reports will be a valuable resource to grantees in helping them 

to evaluate and select the most appropriate radiation detection equipment for their 

needs. The reports can be found on the System Assessment and Validation for 

Emergency Responder (SAVER) (http://saver.tamu.edu/) and the Responder 

Knowledge Base (RKB) (http://www2.rkb.mipt.org/) websites. The RKB website also 

provides the Standardized Equipment List (SEL). The SEL contains a list of generic 

equipment recommended by the Interagency Board (IAB) to local, state, and federal 

government organizations in preparing for and responding to Weapons of Mass 

Destruction (WMD) events. The Environmental Measurements Laboratory (EML) 

website (http://www.eml.doe.gov/Standards/gateway/Disclaim.cfm) is also a 

valuable resource that provides information on specific radiation detection equipment. 

Additional technical support can be obtained by contacting the help line at the Office 

for Domestic Preparedness (ODP) Centralized Scheduling and Information Desk (CSID) 

at 800-368-6498.