Development of automatic systems for the ionising radiation metrology at the ENEA-IRP secondary standard laboratory

The ENEA IRP Secondary Standard Dosimetry Laboratory of Bologna (Italy) has been operated for more than 30 y as a secondary standard laboratory for X rays, gamma, beta and neutron radiation metrology. For photon radiation, the instruments for radiation protection and clinical dosimetry are calibrated in agreement with the ISO standards, using remotely controlled irradiation units: two 60Co, one 137Cs and three X-ray units (160, 320 and 420 kV, respectively). The calibration procedures, approved by the National Primary Laboratory, have been recently implemented in a software package, which controls the irradiation units and acquires the reference measurements. The system, developed at the laboratory under the LabVIEW programming language, guarantees a constant surveillance of all devices and operations, avoids procedural mistakes and automates the record-keeping and reporting activities. This results in an increase in the reliability of the calibration service.