Over the last 20 years, the Nuclear Science and Instrumentation Laboratory (NSIL) of the International?Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has played a leading role worldwide in the effective use of nuclear?instrumentation and nuclear spectrometry techniques, including the development of portable systems?and analytical methodologies for in situ radiological and materials characterization in Member States’?priority areas, such as on-site environmental assessment, mineral prospecting and site remediation?projects. In addition to these research activities, the NSIL has supported IAEA technical cooperation?projects by providing training in nuclear instrumentation to hundreds of research fellows and visiting?scientists. The NSIL has extensive experience in providing training on, and recommendations for, the?implementation of nuclear spectrometry techniques.

The state of the art in portable instrumentation and interpretation tools offers multiple choices for?implementing in situ surveys for a variety of environmental scenarios and compartments. In situ?techniques have reached a high level of analytical performance and offer many advantages over other?more traditional techniques, including fast determination of contaminant concentrations/activities,?identification of hot spots, cost reduction for the investigations, and fast determination of the?contaminant’s spatial distribution. In situ measurements can also improve the sampling strategies for?high accuracy laboratory analysis if needed.

Geostatistics-based interpretation of large data sets allows a model to be simulated that can be used to?describe the statistical and geostatistical variability of the measurement results. It can provide useful?tools to represent an estimate of the distribution of the contaminants, to evaluate the volume of?contaminated material and to support decision making in environmental remediation processes.

As there is an uneven level of experience and access to such techniques across IAEA Member States,?many countries could benefit from the advantages of training on these topics to support their?investigations related to different environmental problems. The NSIL is offering training on in situ?techniques through workshops and technical cooperation projects.