Uncertainty of dose measurement in radiation processing

The major standard organizations of the world have addressed the issue of reporting uncertainties in measurement reports and certificates. There is, however, still some ambiguity in the minds of many people who try to implement the recommendations in real life. This paper is a contribution to the running debate and presents the author's view, which is based upon experience in radiation processing dosimetry.

The origin of all uncertainty components must be identified and can be classified according to Type A and Type B, but it is equally important to separate the uncertainty components into those that contribute to the observable uncertainty of repeated measurements and those that do not. Examples of the use of these principles are presented in the paper.