IONIZING RADIATION – LAT Center

Centro di Taratura LAT N° 104
Laboratorio Accreditato di Taratura

IONIZING RADIATION SECONDARY STANDARD CALIBRATION LAB

EQUIPMENT – CALIBRATION CAPABILITY – LAB ACTIVITY – CALIBRATION REQUEST

The Laboratory is part of the Quality Service of the Politecnico di Milano (LAT Calibration Center No. 104) as Ionizing Radiation Sector. The Center obtained the extension of the SIT accreditation (now ACCREDIA) to the Ionizing Radiation Sector in February 1999

  • Self-shielded gamma irradiator
  • X-ray generator

Equipment

The instruments calibration is done using the reference radiation qualities specified in the ISO 4037-1 and CEI/IEC 61267:2005 standards, produced via an ISOVOLT 320/10 Seifert X-ray generator and a self-shielded irradiator containing 137Cs, 241Am and 60Co sources. The X-ray generator is characterized by a high stability emission, particularly suitable for dosimetry uses.

The laboratory guarantees the metrological traceability by using graphite cavity ionization chambers as reference instruments. The ion chamber reading is done through a charge measuring system.

The irradiation control is guaranteed by a transmission ionization chamber with aluminized mylar walls, associated with a charge measurement system identical to that used for the reference instruments.

In both irradiation facilities (x and gamma) the positioning of the instruments under calibration is done by a laser-aligned optical bench. The source-detector distance is measured with an accuracy of ± 1mm.

Metrological capability

The Laboratory performs calibrations issuing of an ACCREDIA certificate for the following dosimetric quantities:

  • Kerma in the air – rate of kerma in the air
  • Equivalent personal dose – rate of equivalent personal dose
  • Equivalent of environmental dose – rate of equivalent environmental dose

Table 1 shows the radiation qualities certified by ACCREDIA, Table 2 shows the radiation qualities certified by Politecnico

Table of radiation qualities

The following page shows the X-ray and gamma radiation qualities that can be used for calibrations. Table1 lists the qualities accredited by ACCREDIA, therefore the certificate is issued with the ACCREDIA logo. Table 2 lists the radiation qualities accredited by the Politecnico di Milano.

Column 1      Radiation quality code:

  • W Series: radiation quality with broad energy spectrum (ISO 4037-1 Standard).
  • H Series: high intensity radiation quality recommended for the study of the overload characteristics of some instruments (ISO 4037-1 Standard).
  • Series N: quality of radiation with narrow energy spectrum, recommended for the study of the dependence of the response of the dosimeter on the energy of the incident radiation (ISO 4037-1 Standard).
  • RQR Series: X-ray quality emerging from the x-ray system, in general radiography, fluoroscopy and dental applications (CEI / IEC 61267: 2005).
  • MO-MOA Series: X-ray quality emerging from the x-ray system, in mammography (CEI EN 61223-3-2: 2008 standard)

Column 2      Tension of the X-ray tube

Column 3      Average energy of filtered and gamma X-ray qualities

Column 4      The filtration indicated is additional to the inherent filtration of the X-ray tube (equivalent to 0.35 mm Al).

Column 5      First emivalent thickness of filtered X-ray quality

Column 6      Minimum and maximum values obtainable in environmental dose equivalent and in kerma in air.

Moreover, the Lab performs irradiations/calibrations with the following constraints:

  • Maximum times for irradiation of dosimeters: 30 minutes for the quality of X radiation and 12 hours for the quality of gamma radiation.
  • Maximum times for calibration of instruments in integration: 4 minutes.

Radiation qualities with ACCREDIA certificate

1

2

3

4

5

6

Cod.

A.T. (KV)

Mean energy

(keV)

Additional filtration

(mm)

1° HVL (mm)

Dose equivalent (mSv/h)

Air Kerma

(mGy/h)

Personal

Hp(10)

Ambient H*(10)

Min

Max

min

max

min

max

W-60 (L1)

60

44,5

3,5mm Al+0,25mm Cu

0,18 Cu

4,30

63,47

6,66

881,04

278

591,30

W-80 (L2)

80

56,3

3,5mm Al+0,45mm Cu

0,35 Cu

5,70

109,77

8,58

1486,53

3,22

895,50

W-110 (L3)

110

78,5

3,5mm Al+2,0mm Cu

0,97 Cu

2,78

77,51

4,55

1018,31

1,66

598,50

W-150 (L4)

150

104,0

3,5mm Al+1,0mm Sn

1,89 Cu

4,48

136,29

6,58

1799,88

2,53

1111,86

W-200 (L5)

200

136,4

3,5mm Al+2,0mm Sn

3,15 Cu

5,68

180,53

8,39

2401,33

3,44

1579,82

W-250 (L6)

250

171,7

3,5mm Al+4,0mm Sn

4,35 Cu

5,25

166,70

7,87

2287,08

3,41

1563,62

W-300 (L7)

300

199,0

3,5mm Al+6,5mm Sn

5,21 Cu

6,05

158,92

9,18

2169,98

4,12

1561,14

H-60 (A4)

60

36,4

2,9mm Al

2,41 Al

22,05

324,35

34,20

4526,06

19,53

3935,70

RQR5

70

34,8

2,6mm Al

2,55 Al

–

–

–

–

29,33

7058

RQR7

90

41,0

3,4mm Al

3,45 Al

–

–

–

–

35,30

10620

RQR9

120

50,8

3,7mm Al

4,98 Al

–

–

–

–

42,26

16950

Cs-137

–

660

Gamma Radiation

–

0,0011

6,87

0,0011

22,006

0,00093

18,34

Am-241

–

59,7

Gamma Radiation

–

0,004

0,03

0,0041

0,0984

0,0024

0,055

Co-60

–

1250

Gamma Radiation

–

0,0040

0,029

0,0040

0,093

0,0034

0,0805


Radiation qualities with certificate issued by the Politecnico di Milano

1

2

3

4

5

6

Cod.

A.T. (KV)

Mean energy

(keV)

Additional filtration

(mm)

1°

HVL

(mm)

Dose equivalent (mSv/h)

Air Kerma

(mGy/h)

Personal

Hp(10)

Ambient H*(10)

Min

Max

min

max

min

max

H-100 (A5)

100

57

3,5mm Al+0,15mm Cu

0,30 Cu

20,53

513,07

30,77

6924

12,22

4410

H-200 (A6)

200

102

3,5mm Al+1,2mm Cu

1,75 Cu

21,77

692,27

32,14

9197

12,44

5712

H-250 (A7)

250

122

3,5mm Al+1,6mm Cu

2,53 Cu

27,47

872

20,65

11618

16,45

7425

H-300 (A8)

300

147

3,5mm Al+2,5mm Cu

3,53 Cu

127,72

3352

190,74

45920

80,33

30447

N-60 (S7)

60

48

3,5mm Al+0,6mm Cu

0,24 Cu

1,32

19,34

2,03

269,03

0,80

169,20

N-80 (S8)

80

65

3,5mm Al+2,1mm Cu

0,60 Cu

0,51

9,85

0,76

130,79

0,27

75,60

N-100 (S9)

100

83

3,5mm Al+5mm Cu

1,12 Cu

0,21

5,11

0,29

67,10

0,11

39,24

N-120 (S10)

120

99,0

3,5mm Al+5mm Cu+1 mm

Sn

1,74 Cu

0,21

5,37

0,28

70,26

0,11

42,84

N-150 (S11)

150

116,6

3,5mm Al+2,5 mm Sn

2,41 Cu

1,11

33,6

1,63

447,93

0,64

282,18

N-200 (S12)

200

161,2

3,5mm Al+2,0mm Cu +

3,0 mmSn+1,0mm Pb

4,12 Cu

0,28

8,82

0,41

117,85

0,18

80,71

N-250 (S13)

250

202,5

3,5mm Al+2,0 mm Sn +

3,0 mm Pb

5,31 Cu

0,21

6,69

0,32

92,95

0,14

65,32

N-300 (S14)

300

249,6

3,5mm Al+3,0mm Sn +

5,0 mm Pb

6,22 Cu

0,20

5,40

0,31

75,40

0,14

54,81

MO1

25

15,9

0,06 mm Mo

0,36 Al

–

–

–

–

97,86

1252

MO2

28

16,2

0,06 mm Mo

0,38 Al

–

–

–

–

120,5

1884

MO3

35

17,1

0,06 mm Mo

0,43 Al

–

–

–

–

142,3

2760

MO4

40

18,1

0,06 mm Mo

0,46 Al

–

–

–

–

149,3

3360

MOA1

25

18,3

0,06mm Mo+1,8mm Al

0,56 Al

—-

—-

—-

—-

5,68

71,02

MOA2

28

19,1

0,06mm Mo+1,8mm Al

0,62 Al

—-

—-

—-

—-

8,61

130,9

MOA3

35

22,9

0,06mm Mo+1,8mm Al

0,92 Al

—-

—-

—-

—-

14,49

271,7

MOA4

40

26,1

0,06mm Mo+1,8mm Al

1,27 Al

—-

—-

—-

—-

19,00

427,6

RQR2

40

26,2

2,3 mm Al

1,41 Al

—-

—-

—-

—-

13,64

1968

RQR3

50

29,0

2,35 mm Al

1.76 Al

—-

—-

—-

—-

18,82

3396

RQR4

60

32,0

2,7 mm Al

2,17 Al

—-

—-

—-

—-

20,60

4374

RQR6

80

37,8

3,25 mm Al

3,01 Al

—-

—-

—-

—-

26,04

7230

RQR8

100

44,2

3,7 mm Al

4,00 Al

—-

—-

—-

—-

27,04

9762

RQR10

150

61,2

4,4 mm Al

6,68 Al

—-

—-

—-

—-

32,38

13358

Below is the link to the ACCREDIA website reporting the accreditation tables with indications of the accredited quantities and the minimum uncertainties available.

ACCREDITATION TABLES

Laboratory activities

Activities for external customers:

  • Calibration/irradiation certificates with or without ACCREDIA logo, depending on the specific radiation quality.
  • Characterization of instrumentation used for radioprotection measures

Teaching:

  • Educational activities provided to students of the MoS in Nuclear Engineering
  • Teaching activities for radiation protection practictioners

Research:

  • Study and characterization of new radiation detectors
  • Analysis of the detector response in non-standard conditions
  • Characterization of radiation fields diffused by phantoms
  • Support activities to research lines of the Polytechnic Department of Energy

There is also the possibility of carrying out finalized research on a contract with third parties.

Calibration requests and timing

For the instrument calibration request, please download the following form (only in Italian):

Request form (.docx)Download
Request form (.pdf)Download

The application forms can be sent to the University Quality Service (SQuA), by e-mail

An economic offer will follow the request. Once accepted, an appointment is agreed upon for the shipment of the instrumentation.

The certificate is issued within 20 days. working, upon payment of the invoice.

Information and contacts

For information about our activities, please contact our reference person:
Marco Caresana
Email: marco.caresana@polimi.it
Tel: +39 02 2399 6336