Qualification setup for systems for measuring nuclear and radioactive material

In various types of application, systems for measuring nuclear and radioactive material are used. During the purchase decision-making process, the information given by the manufacturer will be taken into consideration. In other application are as several well established standards exist which have to be fulfilled and in relation to which the devices are tested in qualified laboratories. In the field of measurement systems for nuclear and radioactive material no test laboratories in Europe were established for this kind of devices yet. In the Illicit Trafficking Radiation Detection Assessment Program + 10 (ITRAP+10) dedicated testing procedures, test equipment and test methods have been developed based on ANSI and IEC standards. The corresponding tests have been performed at the European Joint ResearchCentre (JRC) in Ispra (Italy) and in several national labs in the US. The next step is to enable laboratories in Europe to verify an instrument's compliance to these standards. This is currently carried out in ITRAP+10 Phase II in work package 2. The Fraunhofer INT is one of the participating organizations and has conceived and built a test environment to perform the corresponding dynamic and static test measurements using neutron and gamma sources. This paper deals with the development of the testing facility at Fraunhofer INT consisting of a guide rail system with roller carriages carrying the measurement systems. A lifting device controlled with pressurized air lifts the radioactive sources from inside a shielding case up to a position in front of the measurement systems. The system is completed by a data acquisition system which includes video data collection. This enables the analysis of the time response even for systems without data storage capabilities. The setup is quite flexible and offers many options. The development phase as well as first experience with the system and first investigations of measurement systems are presented.