This standard establishes criteria and processes for verification and validation of radioanalytical data for waste management and environmental remediation activities. It applies to the independent review of the data generation process for field measurements and radioanalytical laboratories. This standard sets the requirements for how the data are reviewed and qualified against the data quality requirements @e.g., measurement quality objectives (MQOs)] that are established by the project to meet their intended use. While this standard does not specifically address all nondestructive assays and in situ measurements, the general principles and some of the elements of this standard may apply. This standard does not address nonradioassay measurement methods (e.g., inductively coupled plasma–mass spectroscopy, kinetic phosphorescence analysis, X-ray diffraction).

Purpose

This standard¹ specifies verification and validation criteria and processes for determining the validity of radioanalytical data for waste management and environmental remediation. These applications include site characterization, waste acceptance, waste certification, waste treatment design, process control, litigation, and other applications requiring data verification and validation. This standard provides a minimum set of checks and tests to be performed by a reviewer independent from the laboratory data generator. These checks and tests will ensure a consistent approach for independent verification and validation of data produced by any radioanalytical laboratory. This standard should eliminate many of the inconsistencies in the approaches, evaluation algorithms, parameters evaluated, and qualifiers used in existing site-specific data verification and validation programs.

¹The current standard, ANSI0ANS-41.5-2012, is hereinafter referred to as "this standard."