CIRMS Annual Meeting

[George Xu <xug2@rpi.edu>]

Dear Colleagues, 

The following is a summary about the recent Council on Ionizing Radiation
Measurements and Standards annual meeting.  CIRMS (http://www.cirms.org)
invites your articipation and input.  Thanks!

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X. George Xu, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor and Institute Radiation Safety Officer
Nuclear Engineering and Engineering Physics Programs
Department of Environmental and Energy Engineering
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
NES Building, Tibbits Ave.
Troy, NY 12180

E-mail: xug2@rpi.edu
Homepage: http://www.rpi.edu/~xug2
Tel: 518-276-4014
Fax: 518-276-4832
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 CIRMS Holds Eighth Annual Meeting at NIST

The Council on Ionizing Radiation Measurements and Standards (CIRMS) held
its eighth annual meeting at the National Institute of Standards and
Technology (NIST) in Gaithersburg, MD on October 13-15, 1999.  CIRMS
represents thousands of users of ionizing radiation and radioactive sources
engaged in industrial radiation processing and sterilization, medical
radiation diagnostics and therapy, nuclear power generation, worker
radiation protection, and environmental measurement programs.  CIRMS
provides a forum for discussing ionizing radiation issues; identifying,
defining and prioritizing needed work; disseminating information on
standards; and organizing workshops and meetings to advance ionizing
radiation technology.

More than 160 participants from industry, federal and state agencies,
national laboratories, and the academic community attended the meeting, and
presented lectures and posters which addressed the specialties of the four
CIRMS subcommittees: Medical Applications, Occupational Radiation
Protection, Public and Environmental Radiation Protection, and Industrial
Applications and Materials Effects.  To encourage the next generation of
scientists in these disciplines, a Student Travel Grant program was added
to the annual meeting. Industry and organizational contributions permitted
five students to attend the annual meeting and present their research in a
plenary session.

The 1999 Annual Meeting used a parallel workshop format for its
subcommittee meetings held on the first day.  This change in format enabled
each subcommittee to present several invited talks on key issues germane to
its area of scientific and technical interest, and then proceed with a
review of the subcommittee's Measurement Program Descriptions (MPDs).  This
new format for the annual meeting enabled participants to hear of the
latest developments in their respective areas and then move on to
consideration of the main working documents, the MPDs, generated by CIRMS.
Judging from the significant increase in the overall meeting participation
(50% increase over CIRMS'98) CIRMS has enhanced its role as THE FORUM for
dialog on key measurement issues effecting the entire radiation community.

Medical Applications Subcommittee (Co-Chairs: Tom Heaton, FDA, and Larry
DeWerd, University of Wisconsin)

The over 45 participants in the Medical Applications Subcommittee session
heard 11 papers on diverse topics covering areas such as BANG gels, the
calibration of beta and intravascular sources, low energy brachytherapy
seeds and photon dosimetry.  In reviewing the existing MPDs, the Medical
Applications Subcommittee acknowledged that four MPDs in this area have
been completed or are nearly complete.  These included: MPD A.1 on
Mammography; MPD A.4.1 on Absorbed Dose to Water; MPD A.5 on Air Kerma
Standards for Diagnostic Beams; and MPD A.6 on Air Kerma Standards for
Photon Brachytherapy.  Three of the existing MPDs warranted some revision:
MPD A.2.1 on Radioactivity Standards for Nuclear Medicine; MPD A.3.1 on
2D/3D Dose Mapping for Therapy; and MPD A.7 on Dosimetry for Intravascular
Brachytherapy.  In addition, ten possible new MPDs were discussed, several
of which dealt with standards and measurements for brachytherapy. 

Public and Environmental Radiation Protection (PERP) Subcommittee (Chair:
David McCurdy, Duke Engineering and Engineering Services)

The 24 participants in the PERP Subcommittee session heard 7 presentations
many dealing with sample verification processes and traceability.  There
was an extended discussion of the key elements needed for a verification
protocol.  Out of this emerged an outline for the criteria for quality
control sample preparation.  Related to this are the issues of traceability
through Performance Evaluation programs and the criticality of material
quality to the credibility of any analytical results.  Some fundamental
issues related to the PERP MPDs were noted: a) survey instrumentation; b)
waste cleanup and site remediation; c) atom counting techniques; and d)
field survey instruments.  As a result of this workshop, a new written
standard will be proposed to ANSI N42.2.  The topics and issues noted in
this session will be suggested as the outline for this standard.  At least
six organizations volunteered to participate in writing this new standard.

Occupational Radiation Protection (ORP) Subcommittee (Chair: Kenneth
Swinth, Swinth Associates) 

The over 45 participants in the ORP Subcommittee session heard 12
presentations along with 2 short contributions.  Of these, emphasis was
given to the issues pertaining to neutron measurements including
calibrations and dosimetry.  The occupational radiation protection
subcommittee dealt with facilities, measurements and standards for
neutrons.  This topic was particularly timely in light of the recent
criticality accident in Japan.  Developments in the area of electronic
dosimetry for neutrons were presented.  The progress being made on microRad
calibrations and their traceability to NIST was also covered along with
recent developments in personnel dosimeters for beta dosimetry.  The seven
existing ORP MPDs were briefly reviewed.  Four new topical areas that could
lead to MPDs were suggested.  These include: a) neutron dosimetry; b)
proficiency testing; c) portable multi-channel analyzers (MCAs) and d) the
calibration of installed area monitors.  The concerns related to these
areas will need to be discussed and developed and, in some instances, may
lead to activities, such as the development standards outside of CIRMS. 

Industrial Applications and Materials Effects (IAME) Subcommittee (Chair:
Paul Farrell, Brookhaven Technology Group; Vice-Chair: Kenneth Koziol:
SteriGenics, Inc.)

In contrast to the other subcommittees, the IAME Subcommittee generally
deals with the radiation effects on non-living matter.  This year the IAME
session concentrated on radiation effects on materials considered for use
in space programs.  The over 22 attendees heard 12 presentations.  Three of
these dealt with the emergence of electron beam cured carbon fiber
composites and structures that could be made from such as well as
limitations to the survivability of traditional organic matrix materials in
the space environment.  Ion beam effects on polymers, new electron beam
capabilities resulting from industry/university cooperation and NIST's own
radiation source capabilities were covered as well as some dosimetry issues
and the effects of dose on viruses in human fibroid tissue.  In reviewing
the IAME MPDs, it was felt that alanine dosimetry and its spin resonance
measurements will take hold in medical device sterilization (MDP D.5) and
in food irradiation (MPD D.7).  A new MPD covering electron-beam-cured
composites may be needed.  MDP D.4.1 on neutron effects on reactor vessels
will have to be expanded to encompass recent Nuclear Regulatory Commission
interests in the effects on cables and other materials near reactors. Later
this year, the National Physical Laboratory in the United Kingdom will
publish the results of an alanine based dosimetry intercomparison it
conducted with all of the radiation processing facilities in Europe. 

The annual gathering of the radiation user community is a key element of
the planning processes for state and federal agencies.  CIRMS encourages
one-on-one interactions, open group discussions, and prioritization of the
national measurements and standards needs through consensus.  These
collective efforts help industry and government to more effectively solve
short-term problems, and to prepare adequately for the future needs of
emerging radiation technologies.  The new officers for CIRMS this year are
Dr. George Xu from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, President, Mr. Joseph
McDonald from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, 1st Vice President,
Dr. Arthur Heiss from Bruker Instrument, 2nd Vice President, and Mr. John
Micka from University of Wisconsin - Madison, as Secretary/Treasurer. The
next annual meeting of CIRMS will be held at NIST on October 30 - November
1, 2000. For further information visit the web site at www.cirms.org.
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