The Dosimetry & Radiation Measurements Laboratory at the AREVA NC Marcoule site celebrated its 50th anniversary on October 22. The AREVA and CEA/Marcoule departments invited customers and past unit managers to join them for the occasion. The festivities started at Visiatome, Marcoule, with the conference “The Dosimetry Laboratory: performance, results and future prospects”, which was given by Michel Espagnan, Laboratory Head, and Gérard Marcellin, Deputy-Head. The party was then moved to the laboratory.
Alain Gagnor, Deputy-Director of AREVA NC Marcoule, praised the experience and professionalism of the laboratory’s successive teams. Pierre Sirot, Director of Safety & Radiation Protection, spoke of their high level of expertise and quality, which has since become a reference in the nuclear industry.
The Dosimetry Laboratory measures and calculates the exposure levels of workers to ionizing radiation using highly-developed means and a special technique: thermoluminescence*. The laboratory is run by six AREVA NC staff and a contractor who manufactures the dosimeters. Strengthened by its COFRAC accreditation and its approval from the French Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN), the laboratory currently analyzes almost 130,000 dosimeters every year for eight customers either based at Marcoule or elsewhere within the AREVA Group.
* Thermoluminescence is a physical phenomenon that involves the emission of light from certain crystalline materials when heated, providing they have been previously exposed to natural or artificial irradiation.
Thermoluminescent dosimeter (TLD): Passive device made of one or several thermoluminescent crystals designed to measure exposure to ionizing radiation.