LEE250C - EPA-Ultra low level liquid scintillation counter
Overview
The Environmental Protection Agency is at the front line of environmental protection and policing. We ensure that Ireland's environment is protected, and we monitor changes in environmental trends to detect early warning signs of neglect or deterioration.
Protecting our environment is a huge responsibility, and we work with a number of organisations that carry out specific environmental functions. As of August 2014, we are also responsible for ensuring that the people of Ireland are protected from the harmful effects of radiation.
The EPA is an independent public body established under the Environmental Protection Agency Act, 1992. The other main instruments from which we derive our mandate are the Waste Management Act, 1996, and the Protection of the Environment Act, 2003 and Radiological Protection (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2014.
This purchase will improve EPA’s capability for verification that foodstuffs and environmental samples contain no more than permitted levels of alpha and beta radioactivity. It focuses on reducing minimum detectable levels of radioactivity, to enable faster emergency response, faster certification of Irish produce, and to improve stakeholder engagement by providing routine measurement of environmental background levels. The chosen model will exceed the basic capabilities required in Directive 2013/51 for naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM), specifically radon in drinking water, and will facilitate further development of techniques for flexible high sensitivity analysis of artificial radionuclides.
Liquid scintillation counting is a key technique for EPA’s ongoing radiological monitoring programme and its response to Nuclear Emergencies. The new liquid scintillation counter is intended to complement and ultimately replace aging equipment, to futureproof compatibility of laboratory equipment with EPA IT systems, in addition to facilitating the development of new and improved procedures for emergency response and environmental monitoring. These will focus on bringing new emergency protocols such as cherenkov counting towards routine use in the laboratory preparedness, and implementing background environmental analysis of naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM, a priority area deriving from EC directives 2013/51 and 2013/59).