SC 45B

IEC standards relating to

equipment used for the purposes

of Non-Medical Human Imaging

IAEA, Vienna, 17-20 January 2016

Miroslav Voytchev, IRSN (France)

Secretary of IEC/SC 45B

“Radiation Protection Instrumentation”

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Contents

1. IEC and its SC45B

2. IEC imaging standards

3. IEC 62463 X-ray systems for the screening of persons

for security and the carrying of illicit items

4. IEC 62523 Cargo/Vehicle radiographic inspection

systems

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Major standardization organisations

Scope

Level Electro-technologies

All except electro-technologies and telecommunication

International

International Electrotechnical Commission

International Organization for Standardization

European European Committee for Electrotechnical

Standardization European Committee for Standardization

National

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Standard

A standard is a document, established by consensus and

approved by a recognized body, that provides, for common

and repeated use, rules, guidelines or characteristics for

activities or their results, aimed at the achievement of the

optimum degree of order in a given context.

According to ISO/IEC Directives

Adoption of IEC/ISO standards by any country, whether it is

a member or not, is entirely voluntary.

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IEC - International Electrotechnical

Commission

Founded in 1906

Prepares and publishes international standards for all electrical, electronic and related technologies

First IEC president: Sir William Thomson - Lord Kelvin

National Committees (NC) 61 member countries 23 associated member countries

Technical Committees (TC) and Sub-committees (SC)

177 TCs and SCs more than 700 WGs

More information: http://www.iec.ch

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IEC Technical Committees (TC)

TC 1 Terminology …

TC 9 Electrical equipment and systems for railways …

TC 45 Nuclear instrumentation

SC 45A Instrumentation of nuclear facilities

SC 45B Radiation protection instrumentation …

TC 62 Electrical equipment in medical practice …

TC 86 Fibre optics …

TC 113 Nanotechnology standardization

TC 114 Marine energy - Wave and tidal energy converters

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IEC/SC 45B Radiation protection

instrumentation

Scope:

To prepare standards that address instrumentation used for: the measurement of ionizing radiation in the workplace, to the public, and in the

environment for radiation protection purposes

illicit trafficking detection and identification of radionuclides

radiation-based security screening

Leadership Chairman: Peter Chiaro (ORNL, US), Secretary: Miroslav Voytchev (IRSN, France)

Country membership Participating countries (P-members): 21

Observer countries (O-members): 14

More than 100 experts Testing laboratories

Governmental agencies

Manufacturers

Users

Standards and technical documents Published: 54, In development: 9

Liaisons with ISO, IAEA, ICRP, ICRU…

SC 45B standards are considered by CENELEC for adoption as EN

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IEC/SC 45B Working Groups

WG 5 - Measurement of Environmental Radiation

WG 8 - Active pocket and portable dose (rate) meters and monitors and passive dosimetry systems

WG 9 - Installed Equipment for Radiation and Activity Monitoring in Nuclear Facilities

WG 10 - Radon and Radon Decay Products Measuring Instruments

WG 15 - Illicit Trafficking Control Instrumentation using spectrometry, personal electronic dosimeter and portable dose rate instrumentation

WG 16 - Contamination Meters and Monitors

WG 17 - Security inspection systems using active interrogation with radiation

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Radiation protection screening

standards

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IEC # PL Title Date of

publicat.

62463 UK

X-ray systems for the screening of

persons for security and the carrying

of illicit items 06/2010

62523 China Cargo/Vehicle radiographic inspection

systems 06/2010

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Imaging performances screening

standards

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IEC # PL Title Date of

publicat.

62709 US

Measuring the Imaging Performance

of X-ray Systems for Security

Screening of Humans 02/2014

62945 US

Evaluating the Image Quality of X-ray

Computed Tomography (CT)

Security-Screening Systems Exp. 2019

62963 China Bottle/can liquid X-ray inspection

system Exp. 2020

63085 Russia

System of spectral identification of

liquids in transparent containers

(Raman systems) Exp. 2021

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IEC 62463 X-Ray Systems for the

Screening of Persons for Security and

the Carrying of Illicit Items

Examples of systems being standardized by IEC 62463

Rapiscan X-ray system, http://www.rapiscan.com

SmartCheck, http://www.as-e.com

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Introduction

The existence of this standard does not indicate

approval of the use of the relevant equipments.

However these equipments exist and are used in some

countries and are likely to be used to scan persons of

all nationalities including nationals of those countries

which ban their use. If other international organisations

ban their use, this standard could be withdrawn.

Meanwhile it is considered valuable to have this

standard to reduce the radiation doses to members of

the public and others likely to have to use the

equipments Personnel X-ray screening assemblies are

used to examine persons in order to detect objects,

such as: weapons, explosives, smuggled or stolen

items such as drugs or diamonds.

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Personnel X-ray screening systems

Personnel X-ray screening assemblies are used to examine

persons in order to detect objects that they should not be

legally carrying

Three types of screening devices

using the Compton backscattered X-rays (Backscatter

system)

using the transmitted X-rays (Transmission system)

combination of the other two types (Backscatter +

Transmission)

All three types consist of an X-ray unit and a detector unit

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Backscatter X-ray systems

Narrow pencil shaped X-ray beam scans the subject at

high speed in a horizontal and vertical direction.

Detectors are on the side of the X-ray source.

Typically a person is scanned twice, once from the front

and then from the back.

X-rays penetrate only about 0.2 - 0.3 mm of the skin.

Typical systems use fixed peak voltage (kV) and current

(mA) settings for the X-ray source. These are typically

50 kV and 5 mA.

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Transmission X-ray systems

Use of a vertical fan–shaped beam of X-rays and a linear array of detectors.

The person stands between the X-ray tube and the detector array. Typical beam width is approximately 2 mm.

The scan takes about 10 seconds.

Peak voltage (kV) is in the range of about 140 kV to 220 kV and current (mA) is in the range of 0.1 mA to about 4 mA.

The systems are capable of detecting objects within the body.

Backscatter plus transmission X-ray systems, are systems that use both backscattered and transmitted X-rays.

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IEC 62463 - Scope and object

This International Standard is applicable to X-ray systems designed for screening people to detect if they are carrying objects that could be used for criminal purposes, e.g., terrorist use, drug smuggling and theft. These objects include weapons, explosives, chemical and biological agents and other concealed items.

The object of this standard is to lay down standard requirements and also to specify general characteristics, general test procedures, radiation characteristics, electrical characteristics, environmental influences, mechanical characteristics, safety requirements and to provide examples of acceptable methods in terms of dose to the whole or part of the body for each screening procedure and the time taken for each screening procedure.

In particular the standard addresses the design requirements as they relate to the radiation protection of the people being screened, people who are in the vicinity of the equipment and the operators. The standard does not address the performance requirements for the quality of the object detection.

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IEC 62463 - Safety considerations

The manufacturer shall provide a description of the radiation

safety systems that are designed to prevent, during normal

operation of the X-ray screening system, accidental

exposure to the operator and public and for ensuring that

the person being screened is not exposed above

manufacturers stated maximum dose per scan.

Shielding

When a person is being screened and the X-ray beam is

emanating, shutter or beam stop open, the ambient dose

equivalent rate to any area where other members of the public

or the operator have access should not exceed 2.5 μSv h-1

taken over several scans

Where the doserate could exceed this value at a distance in

excess of 30 cm from any external surface the manufacturer

shall provide an isodose contour at this value

National regulations may stipulate lower limits

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IEC 62463 - System controls and

normal operation indications

The operating conditions, namely the tube voltage and tube current, for each mode of operation shall be pre-set by the manufacturer and shall not be alterable by the system operator

The operators control panel shall show the following:

Electrical power to the system is on. Only the operator is permitted to switch on the power and this should require the use of a key

When the X-rays are being produced an “X-rays on” illuminated sign shall operate

The voltage and current for the operating mode shall be displayed when required by an engineer or maintenance staff

Indication shall be made for both when the shutter or beam stop is open and/or for when the scan is taking place, “scan on”

The production of x-rays shall only start if the illuminated sign “X-rays” is ready to operate

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IEC 62463 - Ambient dose equivalent at

the position to a person being scanned

A monitoring instrument shall be placed, before the exit beam location, to measure the ambient dose equivalent rate as well as to integrate the scanning exposure.

Dose equivalent alarm shall terminate the exposure when the dose to the subject exceeds any pertinent limit.

Safety interlocks, indications and alarms shall be independent of the system’s normal controls.

The ambient dose equivalent, H*(10), at the reference point shall not exceed

- 0.3 μSv per screening procedure for backscatter systems, - 5 μSv per screening procedure for transmission systems.

Other values may be specified as per national regulations.

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IEC 62523 Cargo/Vehicle

radiographic inspection systems

Examples of systems being standardized by IEC 62523

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IEC 62523 - Scope and object

This International Standard applies to cargo/vehicle radiographic-based inspection systems. It is also applicable to the radiographic-based systems used for inspecting various packaging cargo and transport vehicles.

The object of this standard is to prescribe the component, classification, technical and radiation protection requirements, and test methods of cargo/vehicle radiographic inspection systems.

This standard is not applicable to computed tomography systems, backscatter inspection systems, cargo/vehicle radiographic inspection system using neutron radiation and X-ray systems for the screening of persons.

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IEC 62523 - General characteristics

The inspection systems are designed to create object images

for an inspector to detect, locate, and identify contraband hidden in cargo and/or vehicles.

Inspection systems shall be equipped with emergency-stop devices that are able to terminate the radiation emission and stop all the driving mechanism of the system when activated.

The emergency devices shall only be reset manually. Once any emergency device is activated, the system shall stop operating immediately.

The emergency devices shall work in a fail-safe mode.

In case of power failure, the radioactive source shutter of a gamma-ray system shall automatically close.

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IEC 62523 - Imaging classifications

Steel penetration of radiation : 4 categories from 400 mm to 200 mm

Wire detectability: 4 categories from 2 mm wire thickness to 5 mm thickness

Spatial resolution: 4 categories from 5 mm to 12 mm

Contrast sensitivity: 4 categories from 0.5% to 2%

Object recognition capability: 3 categories (satisfactory, acceptable, failure)

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IEC 62523 - Radiological safety tests

The maximum ambient dose equivalent rate, not including the natural background, shall not exceed 2.5 μSv/h outside the supervised area during exposure.

The manufacturer shall state the maximum ambient dose equivalent rate at the control panel during the scan. The dose equivalent rate shall not exceed 1 μSv/h while the control panel is located in the controlled area, however, other national regulatory limits may apply.

If the driver stays in the vehicle during scanning, the ambient dose equivalent level for the driver shall not exceed 0.1 μSv per scan.

If the system exposes any carry-on or checked cargo to more than 10 μSv during the inspection, a sign which advises to remove film of all kinds from the cargo before inspection shall be posted.

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Conclusions

In addition to the presented requirements in both standards there are also mechanical, environmental, electrical, electromagnetic and documentation requirements

Compliance with such standard requirements provides the manufacturers with internationally acceptable specifications and the device users with assurance of the rigorous quality and accuracy of the measurements in relation to the radiation hazard.

Both IEC 62463 and IEC 62523 (published in 2010) will be revised in the coming years and the feedback from the users, regulators and manufactures is important.

3 more IEC standards on imaging performances are under development.

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Meetings

Last SC 45B meeting took place in

Gyungju (Rep. of Korea)

from 7th to 12th March 2016

Next regular SC 45B meeting

will be in Shanghai (China)

from 16th to 21st October 2017

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SC 45B

Thank you for your attention.

Any questions?