Objective
The objectives of the project were:
i) to identify common research areas and co-ordinate activity for better management of resources;
ii) to make recommendations about future requirements for standards for the accurate analysis of 232th and to encourage their provision, traceability and equivalence at the appropriate levels and environments;
iii) to evaluate appropriate techniques and determine best practice for analysis of 232th at workplace levels and environments and;
iv) to hold a workshop to promote best practice and transfer information to regulatory authorities and industry.
Past, current and proposed research on thorium analysis was reviewed and a report published in which two key areas of importance were identified for future research: the development of sample preparation methods for thorium analysis and reference materials traceable to national standards. Three interlaboratory comparisons were carried out.
All participants obtained creditable results for samples with high activity tested in the 1st intercomparison and there were no significant differences in the performance of the various methods used.
The 2nd interlaboratory comparison tested performance at a significantly lower activity level and in the presence of impurities that could have affected the analysis. Overall, participants again performed well, although some laboratories using gamma-spectrometry had insufficient sensitivity for measurement of low level-samples. The presence of impurities was found to have a detrimental effect on measurements made using alpha- and gamma-spectrometry, but there was no evidence of impurities having an adverse effect on measurements made by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry.
Two solid samples, a zircon sand and a thorium-containing ore, were included the 3rd intercomparison.
Results for these materials were generally good, but the exercise highlighted the difficulties associated with sample dissolution:
A workshop entitled the 1st European workshop on the analysis of thorium in workplace materials was held in March 2001 to disseminate the results of the work. This attracted around seventy delegates from fifteen countries. A dedicated issue of Radiation Protection Dosimetry, entitled Thorium in the workplace, containing the proceedings of the workshop, was published in November 2001.
Background:
Thorium-containing minerals are used in a range of industrial processes, so workers can be exposed to alpha-, beta- and gamma-radiation in industries outside the nuclear sector. In many member states, workers' exposure needs to be determined to comply with national legislation and to date there has been a lack of knowledge about the performance of methods available for measuring exposure to thorium. This project was therefore conceived to bring together experts in the field of thorium analysis to co-ordinate research activity and identify best analytical practice, requirements for standards, etc.
work Programme:
A survey of current and proposed research was carried out in order to identify priority areas for future research. Best practice for the analysis of thorium was determined through a series of interlaboratory comparisons in which a variety of test samples were analysed, including some in which 232th and its daughters were in equilibrium and some in which were in disequilibrium. Sources of error and best methodology were identified. A workshop was held to effect technology transfer and results of the work have also been disseminated by publication and presentations at conferences.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Coordinator
S3 7HQ Sheffield
United Kingdom
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.