1. Assessment of the uncertainties in the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland (RPII) radon measurements service.
- Author
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Hanley O, Gutiérrez-Villanueva JL, Currivan L, and Pollard D
- Subjects
- Ireland, Radiation Monitoring standards, Radiation Monitoring statistics & numerical data, Uncertainty, Radiation Monitoring methods, Radon analysis
- Abstract
The RPII radon (Rn) laboratory holds accreditation for the International Standard ISO/IEC 17025. A requirement of this standard is an estimate of the uncertainty of measurement. This work shows two approaches to estimate the uncertainty. The bottom-up approach involved identifying the components that were found to contribute to the uncertainty. Estimates were made for each of these components, which were combined to give a combined uncertainty of 13.5% at a Rn concentration of approximately 2500 Bq m(-3) at the 68% confidence level. By applying a coverage factor of k=2, the expanded uncertainty is +/-27% at the 95% confidence level. The top-down approach used information previously gathered from intercomparison exercises to estimate the uncertainty. This investigation found an expanded uncertainty of +/-22% at approximately 95% confidence level. This is good agreement for such independent estimates.
- Published
- 2008
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