This standard establishes specific requirements for installed instruments that measure dose, dose equivalent, dose rate, or dose equivalent rate and for installed instruments used to detect and/or measure the presence of radioactive contamination. This standard does not address criticality detection systems.
For this standard, installed radiation protection instruments are instruments that operate using line power primarily. They are not hand-carried during use, and they are typically operated at a fixed location. Instrument types include, but are not limited to, area, equipment, sample, personnel, and waste monitors.
Special purpose instrumentation, such as emergency post-accident radiological monitors, fall under the scope of other related ANSI standards. This standard is intended to supplement rather than replace them.
Low-range (i.e. near background to ＜10µSv/h) instruments, air monitors, and air samplers are addressed by ANSI N323B and ANSI N323C respectively.
Throughout this standard, three verbs have been used to show the degree of rigor intended for each specific criterion. The word shall is used to denote a requirement, the word should to denote a recommendation, and the word may to denote a permissible practice.