Validation Testing of ANSI/IEEE N42.49 Standard Requirements for Personal Emergency Radiation Detectors

Published

April 30, 2010

Author(s)

Leticia S. Pibida, Ronaldo Minniti, C M. O'Brien

Abstract

Various radiation detectors including thirteen electronic Personal Emergency Radiation Detectors (PERDs), radiochromic film cards and thermoluminescent dosimeters (TLDs) were used to validate a subset of the radiological test requirements listed in the ANSI/IEEE N42.49 standard [1]. The subset of tests included: comparing the readout of the detectors with the value given at NIST; testing of the alarm settings (when applicable) in air kerma (or exposure) and air kerma rate (or exposure rate) mode; investigating the effect of testing the detectors mounted on a phantom and free in air. The purpose of this work was not to test the performance of the sample of detectors used. Instead, the detectors were used to validate the requirements of the document standard being developed. For this purpose, the performance and response of these instruments were recorded when placed in 137Cs, and x-ray beams at different air-kerma rates and test conditions. The measurements described in this report were performed at the NIST x-ray and gamma-ray radiation calibration facilities. The data in this report provides a benchmark in support of the development of the ANSI/IEEE N42.49 standard

Citation

Health Physics

Volume

98

Pub Type

Journals

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Keywords

alarming electronic personal emergency radiaton detectors, ANSI N42.49, backscattering, gamma-ray detection, standard validation, x-ray detection

Citation

Pibida, L. , Minniti, R. and O'Brien, C. (2010), Validation Testing of ANSI/IEEE N42.49 Standard Requirements for Personal Emergency Radiation Detectors, Health Physics, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=903055 (Accessed October 22, 2025)