Many of you have probably seen our presentations and posters at the CRCPD and radon symposiums detailing the services we provide to industry, states, EPA regional offices, tribes, universities and various other nonprofit organizations. In a nutshell, we provide two kinds of services: 1) radon measurement analytical services using charcoal canisters provided to qualified environmental justice and tribal communities and 2) quality assurance exposures and calibration checks using our environmental radon chamber and radium bubblers.
Groups interested in obtaining additional information about our radon test kit program should contact the EPA Regional Radon Representative for their area by going to EPA’s Indoor Environments website at http://www.epa.gov/iaq/whereyoulive.html . You may also contact the EPA Headquarters radon team through EPA’s website http://www.epa.gov/radon . In the event our laboratory is contacted directly, we will re-direct all requests to the appropriate EPA regional or headquarters contact to verify whether or not a group qualifies to participate in our radon testing program prior to providing any measurement services. We ask that either the community project lead or the region identify a central point of contact for receiving charcoal canisters test kits and analytical results. This central contact is responsible for tracking the individual locations at which these canisters are deployed. The measurements are performed at no cost to the community: all shipping charges, charcoal canisters, and analytical costs are covered by the EPA laboratory.
We also provide quality assurance exposures of measurement devices and Lucas type cells to the industry proficiency programs, other federal and state agencies, and universities. Currently, we provide verification exposures for new device evaluations to both the NRSB and NEHA-NRPP radon proficiency programs on request. In addition, we perform radon gas and grab radon progeny intercomparisons with commercial radon laboratories that participate in the proficiency programs. Quality assurance exposures of radon measurement devices are performed for other federal and state agency radon programs. We’ve also provided state department of health offices with device exposures for a number of blind testing studies. Another service we provide are calibration checks for anyone with Lucas type scintillation cells, filling them from our radium bubblers.
We do keep busy at the laboratory, especially given that we currently have only one radon chamber for performing all of the exposures mentioned above. Many of these chamber exposures call for unique environmental parameters and therefore prevent us from performing simultaneous exposures for multiple users. Quality assurance exposures typically consume one week of chamber time for each unique exposure requested; if multiple exposures are requested, there is often a delay required to stabilize the chamber and make it ready for the next exposure. For example, a set of exposure requesting three different exposure parameters will typically consume at least three weeks or more of chamber time. So, this keeps us busy, keeps the chamber occupied, and makes it necessary for us to line up our projects and perform them on a first-in, first-out rule unless by chance we can combine two or more requests for particular exposure parameters. What’s the bottom line? If you need analytic, exposure or calibration services from us, please let us know well ahead of time so that we can plan your exposures and get them done in time to meet your needs!
Please visit our site at http://www.epa.gov/rie/cie/index.html for our contact information.
United States