The Institute has a wide and unique spectrum of technical equipment that provides highly specialized analyses in radiation protection.
The basic equipment is as follows:
- Early Warning System stations within the Radiation Monitoring Network in the Czech Republic (instruments for measuring photon dose equivalent rate, software and communication units for the data transfer from the stations to the Centre and to the workers who evaluate radiation situation and handle EWS remote control).
- Whole-body counter which is provided with both scintillation and semiconductor spectrometry (for in-vivo nuclide counting in the human body - including low energy gamma nuclides) and the calibration phantom of the human body which is accepted as the standard by the EU.
- Gamma spectrometry laboratory (with 8 spectrometric routes, HPGe semiconductor detectors in low background shields)
- Alpha/beta spectrometry laboratory (including low-level liquid scintillation analyser)
- Radiochemistry laboratory for artificial nuclide and transuranium element analysis
- Special samplers for airborne nuclide sampling (e.g. cascade compactor, aerosol and gaseous iodine high-volume samplers, aerosol and gaseous iodine portable samplers, noble gas sampling pressurized bottles and fallout samplers)
- TL dozimetry laboratory (provided with automatic/manual TLD readers and laser densitometer)
- Special instruments and software for the mobile team which performs emergency monitoring in the field and the analysis of emergency events: dose rate measurements in individual locations; automated continuous dose rate measurements which are related to cartographical coordinates and are used for the mapping of radiation situation during vehicle drive or helicopter flight; in-situ gamma spectrometry for the identification of artificial nuclides and the determination of quantitative nuclide concentrations correlated to a surface terrain distribution; aviation spectrometry instrumentation; soil samplers; the equipment and software that correlate TLD doses for transport from the Centre to the individual locations (and vice versa) in the territorial TLD network.
- The following resources are available in the X-ray and gamma ray laboratory:
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Radionuclide calibration device of the “OG-8” type equipped with four 137Cs sources and with two 60Co sources. The values of air kerma rate in the reference points range from 20 μGy/hr to 0,5 Gy/hr for the 137Cs sources, and from 4 mGy/hr to 1,5 Gy/hr for the 60Co sources.
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X-ray installation “Isovolt Titan” with three tubes (2 tubes with tungsten anodes, 1 tube with a molybdenum anode). Beams of the RQR/RQA series (EN 61267), beams N40 to N300 of the N-series (ISO 4037-1), and mammography quality beams Mo/Mo, Mo/Rh, W/Ag, and W/Al are maintained.
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The X-ray and gamma ray beams mentioned above are standardized and traceable to higher level standards in terms of the quantity air kerma. Linearity, energy dependence, angular dependence, and temperature dependence of the response of measuring devices can be tested in the standardized beams.
Other X-ray beam qualities for the tube voltages from 10 kV to 320 kV can be realized upon request (as non-traceable, however) using appropriate Al, Cu, Sn, and/or Pb filters.
The laboratory is ISO/IEC 17025 accredited for testing the Lead equivalent of materials according to the norm IEC 61331-1:2014.
The laboratory is able to measure the spectral fluence of X-ray beams for the tube voltages up to 320 kV with the help of a dedicated CdTe measuring system.
See https://doi.org/10.1016/j.radphyschem.2018.01.003 and https://doi.org/10.1016/j.radmeas.2015.12.008 for details.
The laboratory is ISO/IEC 17025 accredited for calibrations of dosemeters in terms of the air kerma in all the standardized photon beams mentioned above. Where applicable (see the norm ISO 4037-3), the calibration may be performed in terms of the ambient dose equivalent H*(10), the directional dose equivalent, and the personal dose equivalent Hp(10).
- Different meter and counter kits for the independent verification of selected parameters and for testing ionizing sources which are used in radiodiagnostics (QC kit for X-rays)
- Different meter and counter kits for the independent verification of selected parameters and for testing ionizing sources which are used in radiotherapy (QC kit for radiotherapy)
- Internationally accepted Rn etalon equipment and the calibration system for the comparison of Rn integral and continuous detectors
- Special equipment for the mobile team used in radon diagnostics (the field detection system for Rn measurements and Rn source analysis in buildings)
- Radiochemical and spectrometric laboratory for the analysis of natural nuclides in the environmental samples.