Abstract
The International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA), through its
Technical Co-operation Programme,
has supported the establishment of
many nuclear analytical and
complementary laboratories in
Member States. This included the
development of capabilities for the
use of various nuclear analytical
techniques that include alpha, beta,
and gamma spectrometry;
radiochemical analysis; neutron
activation analysis; energy dispersive
X-ray fluorescence analysis; and total
reflection X-ray fluorescence. As
economic, ecological, medical, and
legal decisions are frequently based
on laboratory results, they need to be
based on accepted national and
international standards.
The IAEA has taken up this important
issue to enhance and foster the competitiveness
of nuclear analytical laboratories
with the consideration that nonnuclear
capabilities are equally important.
The projects aim at enhanced
quality awareness, a concise system
for documentation, establishment
of standard operating procedures,
procedures for validation of methods,
surveillance of method performance,
systems for sample management, regular
qualification of personnel, client
liaison and safety. These projects
follow the ISO/IEC 17025 standard
and promote participating laboratories
to maintain a self-sufficient quality
system by which they might be
able to obtain national accreditation.
This contribution describes the
general concept of these projects and
discusses some of the results
achieved.
Details
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 583-589 |
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Journal | Accreditation and Quality Assurance |
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Volume | 10 |
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Issue number | 11 |
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DOIs | |
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Publication status | Published - Mar 2006 |
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