Everyone Here at Los Alamos we are exploring the questions of "Minimum Quantifiable Activity" in place of the traditional MDA and the use of automatic background subtraction when surveying for surface contamination.
When performing surface contamination surveys do your techs calculate an MDA before beginning the survey ? Have you established an MDA level at which the survey cannot be performed ? Most applicable to "free release" perhaps. If you have "smart" survey instruments do the techs use the "background subtract" function of the instrument ? I strongly believe we should strive to be consistent from one facility to another in how we establish and report surface contamination levels. Tom James Tom Voss Los Alamos National Lab
