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General information
Certification
Each source is supplied with a data sheet which state:
Reference number
ISO classification
Nominal activity
Source serial number
Results and date of leak test
For calibrated sources: measured activity and overall uncertainty.
Uncertainty
The total uncertainty associated with the traceable sources, which is an estimate of the possible variance between the certified activity and the true activity, includes weighing uncertainty, random uncertainty, and systematic uncertainty. The quadratic combination of these uncertainties is generally less than 5% at the 99% confidence level.
IPL maintains a variety of state-of-the-art detector systems to calibrate sources and to check for impurities. The calibration equipment is checked daily using NIST traceable standards and stability is further insured by maintaining the instrumentation in a carefully controlled environment. All assay equipment and techniques are verified through MAP on an on-going basis.
Calibration
Sources are either calibrated directly against NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology - USA) standards or by using NIST traceable assay equipment and techniques.
Quality assurance
The sources are calibrated at IPL, California or IPCESIO, Czech Republic. The manufacturing facility operates a quality management system which has been independently audited and approved to ISO9001.
ISO Classification
The International Organization for Standardization has published a classification of sealed sources based on safety requirements for typical usage. The source types have been tested to ANSI N 542-1977 or ISO2919 which are equivalent.
Useful working life
The useful working life of the sources is usually limited by the half life of the redionuclide. In addition, regular improvements in source design and measurement mean that it would be good working practice to renew the sources every 10 years.
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