Scheduled preventive maintenance of the analytical equipment

The quality of analytical activities is an important constituent in in any scientific field that also depends on the operability of the equipment in use.

The beginning of a new calendar year marked the launch of operations on budget and contractual programs calling for a proper equipment preparation prior to the analytical activity. The list of such activities for the branch ‘IRSE’ RSE NNC RK is quite long including different methods for analyzing environmental compartments. This also includes the determination of the elemental composition using: an X-ray fluorescence analysis (XFA), atomic emission (ICP-AES) and inductively coupled mass-spectrometric (ICP-MS) technique. Moreover, various registration techniques of ionizing radiation also involve solid-state alpha- and gamma-spectrometry and liquid scintillation beta-spectrometry.

The types of analysis listed require a high-technology equipment to be used. The setup and scheduled maintenance of the latter, in turn, require special skills and knowledge. As of today, the equipment stock numbers 192 units. In January 2023, employees of the branch ‘IRSE’ carried out the preventive maintenance and setup the analytical equipment while providing training. Characteristic causes of trouble, their signs and troubleshooting methods available to the end user were addressed.