Document: NRC Regulatory Guide
Document ID: a5cfec96-8785-464b-ada8-dc4424b90606
Document Type: regulatory_guide
Title: Quality Assurance for Radiological Monitoring Programs
Source: NRC Regulatory Guide Division 4
Source URL: https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML0630/ML063060429.pdf
Revision Date: 2023-06
Chapter: 
Section ID: RG-4.15
CFR Part: 
CFR Title: 

Content:
uality manual and standard operating procedures should address the use, calibration, maintenance, and QC of all nonradiological instruments, measuring devices, and test equipment used for measuring or quantifying other necessary data (e.g., sample masses or volumes, temperatures). All measurement and test equipment should be calibrated before use and adjusted to maintain accuracy within established limits. Quality control checks should be performed at specified frequencies and should verify that instruments are operating to specified performance levels. 4 Note that this list does not include field duplicate samples that are part of the QC requirement for sampling. DG-4010, Page 11 Nonradiological instruments, measurement, and test equipment should be operated according to manufacturers’ instructions, according to established standards, or as specified in the laboratory quality manual and procedures. Section 18.6.7 of MARLAP provides guidance on control, calibration, and maintenance of calibration of apparatus used for mass and volume measurements. ISO/IEC 17025-2005 provides general guidance on establishing quality controls for nonradiological instruments. Items that do not conform to specified criteria should be controlled to prevent inadvertent use. These items should be tracked through the corrective action program. Careful control of contamination and routine monitoring of instrument background are integral parts of a measurement QC program. Determination of the background counting rate should be performed on a regular, predefined frequency for systems in routine use and should ensure that analytical specifications for applicable programs can be met. Instrument backgrounds used to determine a net count rate should replicate actual sample measurement conditions as closely as possible (i.e., using appropriate sample containers and geometries). Section 18.5.1 of MARLAP provides guidance on measurement and control of instrument backgrounds. Section 18.3 and