Equipment Maintenance and Calibration.

DOE-STD-1112-98

5.6.3 Facilities and Equipment. The service laboratory shall have facilities and equipment adequate

to perform the types of service for which it requests accreditation. Facility services,

alternating current (AC) power, and environmental controls shall be adequate for the

measurement systems. These facilities should also be located such that background

fluctuations are minimized from work operations around the facility. Adequate backup

equipment or systems for key measurement systems should be available for use in case the

primary systems fail. Backup systems can either include alternate electronics and instrumenta-

tion or an ability to arrange for the services of another DOELAP accredited radiobioassay

service laboratory on an emergency basis.

5.6.4 Equipment Maintenance and Calibration. The laboratory shall maintain a preventive

maintenance program for equipment used in measurement systems or quality control checks.

When equipment used for measurements or quality control is subject to change due to use or

the passage of time, it shall be calibrated periodically. Calibration is performed by

measurements with a certified source, a derived source traceable to the National Institute of

Standards and Technology (NIST) or with a Transfer Reference Standard (TRS). For direct

radiobioassay, recalibrations shall be performed with the appropriate calibration and source

geometries or with derived source calibration phantoms, however calibration checks of

instrument performance can be performed without using DOELAP phantom geometries.

5.6.4.1 The proper performance of the measurement system shall be verified periodically with

appropriate calibration standards. Either the contractor or an external calibration service may

calibrate equipment or the measurement system. All calibrations and characterizations shall be

performed using certified NIST-traceable sources, derived NIST-traceable sources, or to

standards maintained by an equivalent foreign national standards authority when available.

The terms used in this technical standard for traceability conform to the American National

Standard ANSI N42.22-1995 Traceability of Radioactive Sources to the National Institute of

Standards and Technology (NIST) and Associated Instrument Quality Control.

5.6.4.2 The calibration standards and any influencing environmental conditions shall be

documented for all calibrations. Calibration records shall be made available for inspection

during the assessors' on-site visit. The traceability of the reference standards used shall be

verified during the inspection.