BAER 2000
46th Annual Conference on Bioassay, Analytical, and Environmental Radiochemistry
November 12-17, 2000, Seattle, Washington
Technical Workshop Abstracts
Sunday, November 12, Drum Assays
10:30-12:00 Performance Evaluation Program For Drum Assays Scope Nuclear waste assay is an integral element of programs such as safeguards, waste management, and waste disposal. The majority of nuclear waste is packaged in drums and analyzed by Non-Destructive Assay (NDA) techniques to identify and quantify the radioactive content. Due to various regulations and the public interest in nuclear issues, the analytical results are required to be of high quality and supported by a rigorous Quality Assurance (QA) program. One of the most valuable QA tools is an intercomparison program where a sample is analyzed by a number of different facilities. This is an effective method for documenting the quality of a laboratory and for identifying any possible deficiencies that may have been overlooked by the internal quality control (QC) programs. In the past, a limited number of inter-laboratory measurement comparisons on nuclear waste drums have been performed. The conclusions of these studies indicated that more work was needed. The manufacturing of reference drums need to be improved and the NDA methods need to be standardized. In addition, there is currently no routine program for an intercomparison program for drum counting facilities. The aim of this workshop is to survey the community for interest in a drum PE program, identify the stakeholders and funding mechanisms, and lay the foundation for a routine intercomparison program for drum assays. Preliminary Agenda Introduction, Amir Mohagheghi, SNL A Proposed Program, Mansour Akbarzadeh, WIPP NIST Perspective, Ken Inn, NIST Commercial Sector Perspectives, Dave McCurdy, Duke Engineering Group Discussions Meeting adjourns Direct any questions or suggestions to: Mr. Mansour Akbarzadeh WIPP Radiochemistry Laboratory P.O. Box 2078 MS 452-09 Carlsbad, NM 88221-2078 (505) 234-8617 Office (505) 885-4562 Fax Email: akbarzm@wipp.carlsbad.nm.us
Sunday, November 12, Waste Education Research Consortium
10:30-12:00 WORKSHOP CONTENT WERC History/Background Carolyn Perez WERC Education Ricardo Jacquez WERC Research Deployment Abbas Ghassemi/Jim Bickel WERC Outreach Patricia Sullivan/Ricardo Jacquez 1. WERC History & Background - Carolyn Perez This presentation will discuss how WERC got started and why, who the partners are and how the different segments of the program were initiated. 2. WERC Education Programs - Ricardo Jacquez This presentation will discuss the various educational opportunities available through WERC. 3. WERC Research Deployment - Abbas Ghassemi / Jim Bickel This presentation will address the research initiatives and successes of technology development and deployment. 4. WERC Outreach - Patricia Sullivan / Ricardo Jacquez This presentation will identify the various outreach activities initiated by WERC including K-12, professional development and other programs.
Sunday, November 12, Intercontractor Procurement Team
1:30-3:00 DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY INTEGRATED CONTRACTOR PROCURMENT TEAM NATIONAL CONTRACT SPECIFICATIONS FOR BIOASSAY AND RADIOCHEMISTRY LABORATORY ANALYSIS Virgene Ideker, Division Manager Analytical Services Division Kaiser-Hill, LLC The Department of Energy empowered its contractors to develop an agreement for laboratory services which, by aggressively pursuing consortium buying, would reduce cost and improve data quality. This effort was the first of its kind to encourage cooperation among DOE sites for the establishment of a national service contract. The National Contract for Analytical Services was completed in partnership with the American Council of Independent Laboratories. The National Contract for Analytical Services is the contractual document which supports a national consolidated audit program. It requires a standard data deliverable, standard data quality requirements, and standardizes the method that the DOE complex uses for requesting analysis. In addition, the document establishes criterion for radiochemical analysis for the DOE. As a result of an Inspector General Audit of the Bioassay Program at several DOE sites, an addendum to the current ICPT agreement is being added to include specifications for bioassay analysis. Scheduled completion of the addendum is January 2001. Standardization of data deliverables increases productivity and capacity in the analytical laboratory, enables government entities to obtain legally defensible analytical data in a timely manner, and offers opportunities for other commercial vendors to develop standard systems for data management of all analytical data. Customers will receive comparable quality data for making important regulatory decisions. One of the biggest accomplishments of this effort, next to the cost savings, was the establishment of a cooperative - teamwork atmosphere between all DOE sites, other federal agencies and the commercial laboratories. This cooperation has not existed previously. As a result, efforts are now being made to undertake other national service contracts.
Sunday, November 12, NIST Uncertainty Workshop
1:30-3:00 Workshop on Estimating Uncertainties for Radiochemical Analyses Measurement needs in the radiobioassay, environmental remediation, waste management, safeguards, ocean studies, and geochemical/physical studies specialities have become increasingly demanding and are pushing the limits of detection for current ionizing radiation detectors. For these studies, it is equally important to make determination of values and their uncertainties. Determination of measurement uncertainties provides the statement of confidence in the measurement and frames the bounds to which the results can be interpreted. At this time, there is increasing demand for clarity and consistency in determination of uncertainties. The purposes of the workshop include a) development of examples of measurement models, uncertainty budget, equation to combine uncertainty items, expanded uncertainty consistent with ISO and NIST guidelines; and b) establishment of consistent protocol for estimating combined uncertainties. The discussions will focuse on the concepts presented in the NIST Technical Publication 1297 and the Guide to Uncertainties in Measurement (http//physics.nist.gov/cuu/Uncertainty/index.html and http://physics.nist.gov/Pubs/guidelines/contents.html). Discussion topics will include vocabulary, measurement model, standard uncertainties, combined uncertainties, correlated uncertainty components, uncertainty statement, and law of propagation of uncertainty. Contact: Kenneth G.W. Inn (301-975-5541; kenneth.inn@nist.gov)
Monday, November 13, Radiological Traceability Program
8:30-10:00 Workshop on NIST Traceability Programs Ray Bath, Facilitator The workshop will cover four topics not covered in previous BAER presentations on ANSI N42.22, N42.23 and federal agency performance evaluation programs for radioassay laboratories. The workshop will have panel members introduce points of discussion that include: * Role of the Monitoring Laboratory for the Ongoing Performance Evaluation of Routine Laboratory Operations * Functions and Options for Accreditation of Reference and Monitoring Laboratories * Proposed ANSI Standard on the “Protocol for PT Material Preparation and Verification”: Call for Committee Members * National Traceability and the International Community
Monday, November 13, Recent Fires at DOE Sites
10:30-12:00
Monday, November 13, Performance Based Measurement Systems
10:30-12:00
Performance Based Measurement Systems - “Back to the Future” Mark F. Marcus, Ph.D., Fluor Hanford, Analytical Services, P.O. Box 1000, G1-32, Richland, Washington Performance Based Measurement Systems (PBMS) is a back to science approach that sets the standard for analytical chemistry laboratory data at scientific defensibility. This is a drastic change from the current regulatory chemistry legal defensibility paradigm that we are currently operating under. A number of activities are occurring around PBMS and this paper will summarize some of the important initiatives. A summary will be given of the recently completed American Chemical Society report on this subject. The Global Institute of Environmental Scientists has issued a white paper on PBMS this year. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Environmental Laboratory Advisory Board has an active subcommittee on PBMS and is working this issue. The American Society of Testing Material - D34 Waste Management has a special task group developing a consensus standard to be used for PBMS implementation. Recent EPA actions in various programs will be summarized. PBMS initiation will be related to existing Department of Energy approach to radiochemistry and how this has been a de facto PBMS program will be discussed and a recommendation that this be considered as a working model for implementation in the other analytical chemistry disciplines. This “Back to the Future” approach gives the control back to the scientists to develop and adapt methods to specific problems. This will allow innovation, new techniques and self-improvement. It correctly places laboratory data at a scientific defensibility above mere legal defensibility. This is where we were before regulatory chemistry and where most of the rest of the industry has been operating.
Monday, November 13, NRIP Workshop
1:30-3:00 NIST Radiochemistry Intercomparison Program Annual Users Meeting Summary In 1997 the Radioactivity Group established a traceability-testing program for low-level radiochemistry measurements. Each year, four rounds of evaluations are conducted with participating university, federal, national, interest group, and contract laboratories. The matrices (water, soil, sediment, air filter, synthetic feces and synthetic urine) and activity concentrations reflected common radioanalytical analyses performed by the participating laboratories. Laboratories are issued Certificates of Traceability for the evaluation results. The program has been implemented to meet the guidance for traceability as defined under ANSI N42.23, ANSI N42.22, and ANSI N13.30. These voluntary standards define a hierarchy of traceability with an unbroken linkage to NIST. Under the standards, the evaluation materials shall be composed of appropriate matrices (i.e., matrix categories commonly analyzed by the laboratory) and consist of appropriate (commonly encountered) activity concentration ranges. Current participants in the NRIP program requested these traceability evaluations as part of their quality assurance programs. For more information see http://physics.nist.gov/Divisions/Div846/Gp4/Environ/nrip.html. Preliminary Agenda Opening Remarks, Amir Mohagheghi Program Status Report, Ken Inn FY00 Results Summary, Zhongyu Wu Participant’s Comments, Mansour Akbarzadeh Group Discussions Meeting adjourned Please direct any questions or comments to: Dr. Amir Mohagheghi Sandia National Laboratories P.O.Box 5800 Albuquerque, NM 87111 (505) 844-6910 Office (505) 844-5977 Fax ahmohag@sandia.gov
Monday, November 13, Eichrom's Users' Group Workshop
3:30-5:00 Title: Eichrom's Users' Group Workshop at BAER 2000, A Discussion of Matrix and Speed Chairperson: Lawrence E. Jassin, Eichrom Technologies, Inc. Time and Date: 3:30-5:00 P.M., November 13, 2000 Eichrom Technologies is a manufacturer of a wide variety of separation technologies, including extraction chromatographic materials. These materials are widely used for the separation of actinides, rare earth elements, radium, technetium, strontium, nickel, iron and tritium from environmental, bioassay, process and waste samples. This year’s workshop will showcase analytical methods involving urine, fecal, air filters and very large soil samples. Two of the talks will also emphasize the benefits of vacuum assisted flow to reduce the separation time required for analysis. Eichrom is now supplying 24 station vacuum box systems along with prepackaged resin cartridges. Mike Schultz of Perkin Elmer Instruments will present recent work on sequential actinide methods in urine and fecal samples. Gerald Levi of Westinghouse Savannah River will present details of his Bioassay lab's use of the new Sr Resin cartridge for Sr analysis in urine. Recent improvements in Sr yield and timesaving using vacuum assisted flow will be discussed. Mitch Abbate of Barringer Laboratories will present recent work analyzing Tc-99 in air filters using TEVA Resin. He will discuss how he investigated a high bias to the Tc-99 activity determined via LSC and how he now eliminates the cause through a modification to the Eichrom Tc-99 method. Darrin Mann of the Y-12 National Security Complex will present his recent work developing a method for Po-210. Bill Burnett of Florida State University (predicting a number one ranking for his Seminoles football team by the time of his talk) will update us on his group's research into efficient preconcentration and separation of actinide elements from soil and sediment samples. This research utilizes Eichrom's DiphonixÒ Resin to pre-concentrate actinides in soil samples (up to 50 grams) prior to use of Eichrom's TRU, UTEVA and TEVA Resins to isolate the individual actinides. The above is a glimpse of the real-world radiochemistry discussion planned for our workshop. As always, attendees to our workshop will receive a binder containing the overheads used during the presentations for future reference. We also will upload these presentations to our web site, http://www.eichrom.com. Below please find the agenda for the workshop: 3:30 p.m. Introduction Lawrence E. Jassin, Eichrom Technologies, Inc. 3:35 p.m. A Rapid Method for Analysis of Am, Pu, Th, U, Sr-90 in Urine and Fecal Samples Using Extraction Chromatography Michael Schultz, Perkin Elmer ORTEC; Barry Stewart, Carlsbad Environmental Monitoring and Research Center; Penet Melton and Leisa Stegall, General Engineering Laboratories 4:00 p.m. Strontium Extraction from Urine Samples Gerald D. Levi, Jr., Westinghouse Savannah River Company 4:20 p.m. Tc-99 Analysis in Air Filters, An Approach to Eliminate High Bias Mitch Abbate, Barringer Laboratories 4:40 p.m. A Simple Method for the Analysis of Po210: An Initial Report D.K. Mann and J.K. Franse, Y-12 National Security Complex 5:05 p.m. Analysis of Actinide Elements from Large Samples Henrieta Dulaiova, Guebuem Kim, Bill Burnett, Florida State University, and E. Philip Horwitz, PG Research Foundation 5:30 p.m. Concluding Remarks
Monday, November 13, ORNL In Vitro Intercomparison Studies
3:30-5:00 ORNL in-Vitro Intercomparison Studies Users Meeting Workshop An informal users meeting for participants (and interested parties) in the ORNL bioassay Intercomparison Studies Program (ISP) will be held. ISP has been providing natural urine blind/double blind QC samples on a monthly basis since 1991. Synthetic fecal and whole body count samples are also provided. The workshop will have a discussion format. Topics to be discussed include: statistics, reporting of results, program report format and content, traceability, and possible new matrices (nasal smears, filters, acid solutions) and radionuclides.
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Last updated: October 5, 2000