The European Commission's Directorate-General for Energy, in particular the health protection sector of the Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Unit, is responsible for the radiation protection of staff members. The monitoring program foresees ‘in vivo’ radiation measurements once per year for each staff member classified as exposed worker. This call for tender, launched by the health protection sector of the Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Unit of the European Commission Directorate-General for Energy, invites laboratories approved for performance of whole-body radiation measurements to submit relevant offers. In cases where an intake of a significant amount of 1 or more radioactive substances is identified the contractor shall estimate the 50-year committed effective dose.

The whole-body counter examination consists of the following obligatory measurements:

— total measurement: representative measurement of the whole body with the aim of identifying all gamma emitters present and having potassium-40 as reference,

— lung measurement: specific measurement with the aim of identifying the plutonium deposited in the lungs. This can be done by indirect measurement (determination of americium).

The detection limits should be as low as possible. In particular, for Am-241 (lung measurement), the detection limit has to be below 8 Bq.

The measurement time for each individual measurement should not exceed 1 hour. Should the required detection limit prove unattainable, the contractor shall announce this to the exposed worker concerned immediately, request, and perform a repeated or prolonged measurement.