
Updates from the ASTM E61 Committee on Radiation Processing Meeting
Arthur Dumba, General Manager of the iia, recently participated in the latest ASTM Committee E61 on Radiation Processing meeting and has provided updates from attendees.
ASTM
The most recent ASTM Committee E61 meeting was held virtually, 6 – 8 May 2024. Committee E61 on Radiation Processing is made up of over 170 members, with representatives from various sectors of the industry: producers – sterilisation service providers; users – medical device/pharmaceutical companies utilising radiation processing; and people of general interest – individuals, research institutions, standards laboratories. Committee E61 has six technical subcommittees dedicated to particular areas of interest within radiation processing, with participants consisting of ASTM members.
Committee E61 Scope:
- To establish and maintain standards for ionizing radiation processing and dosimetry for medical products, pharmaceuticals, foods, polymers, and other consumer products.
- Develop standard methods for characterising and operating gamma ray, x-ray, and electron beam irradiators, and promote these standards through meetings and workshops. Provide dosimetry consultation and identify research needs.
- Liaison with other ASTM committees, national and international standards organizations, users, and interested groups to address needs, avoid duplication, and promote new technologies.
Learn more about the work of ASTM Committee E61 on Radiation Processing by following this link.
Council on Ionizing Radiation Measurements and Standards (CIRMS)
CIRMS provided an update on their recent activities which can be read below.
The 2024 CIRMS meeting was held April 29 – May 1, 2024, in Rockville MD at the USG, with a turnout of over 150 attendees. This year’s CIRMS meeting focused on the theme Advancing Radiation Measurements and Standards for Disruptive Technologies. President Amit Adhikary represented the council well and led several interesting plenary sessions, including ones presented by John Logar, previous chair of E61, and Leo Fifield, PNNL scientist and electron beam materials irradiation scientist. The meeting was sponsored by companies such as STERIS, Reveam, IBA, Lablogic, and Eckert and Ziegler, in addition to NIST and the University of Wisconsin.
Of note, several speakers addressed the use of Monte Carlo simulation within the fields of radiation processing and medical physics. On Monday, a joint session with the Radiation Processing and Medical subcommittees was held to discuss mathematical modeling. Thomas Kroc led off the session and several noteworthy speakers from the medical field, the FDA, and academia. Speakers presented on their use of mathematical modelling within the well validated space of radiotherapy, and discussion afterwards focused on how the radiation processing industry can leverage the historical benchmarking performed in medicine to accelerate the acceptance of modeling within a new space.
The second day, breakout sessions on ebeam and x-ray processing were held, with speakers from Nextbeam, Reveam, IBA and Ebeam Services speaker in the ebeam session and, STERIS, Purdue, and Omega-P in the x-ray session. The meeting was widely touted as a success and included optional tours to the NIST and Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute at the end.
Learn more about CIRMS at their website by following this link.
The Constative Committee on Ionizing Radiation (CCRI)
CCRI provided an update on their work and latest activities, detailed below.
The Consultative Committee on Ionizing Radiation (CCRI) is a committee within the structure of the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM) and was formed in 1958. It is the forum where National Metrology Institutes come together to discuss dosimetry (and related) issues for different applications of ionizing radiation. CCRI supports comparison programs between National Standards, so that the equivalency of calibrations obtained from different laboratories can be clearly demonstrated, and that end-users have increased confidence in their local dosimetry measurements.
In the most recent activity, six national laboratories representing US, UK, Denmark, China, Thailand and Argentina participated in a comparison of self-shielded Co-60 reference irradiators and demonstrated consistency at the +/- 1 % level. This provides significant confidence in reference dosimetry across four continents and in a range of environments and provides a stable basis for in-plant dosimetry procedures. Several of these national laboratories are also active in the ASTM E61 community, providing a direct link between national standards and routine measurements.
In addition to the global network enabled by the CCRI, regional metrology organizations (RMOs) have been set up that can address measurement challenges at the continental level. RMOs provide ionizing metrology expertise and partners closer to the point of use (e.g., Asia-Pacific region or South America).
For further information on the activities of the CCRI and the RMOs, please contact the Executive Secretary, Vincent Gressier (vincent.gressier@bipm.org).
The CCRI webpage can be found at this link.