Posted By Trevor Anstey
Morning
We have a new piece of ECD equipment used for the testing of RoHS substances.
It contains a sealed source of Nickel-63 Beta radiation & the service procedures from the suppliers state that a leak test is required to be taken every six months by the user.

Does anyone have any experience with this? our engineers wish to use an old piece of uncalibrated victoreen equipment which in my opinion is not suitable.

The equipment suppliers are not being particularly helpful & I would appreciate some advice
Im thinking a simple wipe down test would suffice?

Posted By Flic
A Google search suggests that this is an Electron Capture Detector.

I think you need to establish just what is intended - for some equipment a leak test means a check of whether the shielding is doing its job in blocking the radiation, and consists of running a geiger counter of the right type all around the equipment, looking for airborne emissions.

On the other hand, for radioactive substances, there is a need for periodic checking that they are not leaking out of their sealed containers. This would normally be done by doing a wipe test and check with geiger counter. Here you are looking for radioactive material that is escaping from the container.

The two tests are fundamentally different.

I suggest you consult a radiation protection adviser to help you to figure out what is needed. In any event, using uncalibrated equipment to do it is definitely out.

Flic

Posted By Flic
Perhaps I chose the wrong word there, but I was trying to help people distinguish between the two tests. A wipe test will not find a beta particle.

If you have a beta emitter, the beta particles are indeed airborne - they travel through the air from the source to you. It isn't electromagnetic radiation, it is a flux of real particles.

Flic