Standardization News

ASTM Homeland Security Committee Member Presents at Tokyo Conference

On March 4, Peter J. Chiaro Jr., a member of ASTM International Committee E54 on Homeland Security Applications, presented at the Seminar on Standards and Criteria for Radiation Measurement and Protection Pertaining to Radioactive Decontamination. The seminar, sponsored by the Japanese Standards Association, took place in Tokyo, Japan. The seminar audience included 40 members of the Japanese utility and regulatory community for the nuclear sector in Japan.

The seminar provided an opportunity to review U.S.-based and Japanese standards and criteria for radiation measurement and protection and measurement techniques. Included in the program was a status report regarding radioactive decontamination for Fukushima, the Japanese prefecture where operating nuclear power plants were impacted by the Great East Japan Earthquake and subsequent tsunami in March 2011.

Chiaro drew on his knowledge of related ASTM standards as well as his experience as a radiation and nuclear detection standards program manager within the Systems Engineering and Evaluation Directorate of the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Washington, D.C. Chiaro is the technical contact for standards developing task groups within Subcommittee E54.01 on CBRNE Sensors and Detectors, which is part of E54.