What is ISO 13162 about?
ISO 13162 discusses water quality testing. Water needs to be tested for radioactive isotope presence to understand whether it is suitable for use. ISO 13162 specifies a method for the measurement of 14C activity concentration in all types of water samples by liquid scintillation counting (LSC) either directly on the test sample or following a chemical separation.
The LSC method is applicable to test samples of supply/drinking water, rainwater, surface and groundwater, marine water, as well as cooling water, industrial water, domestic, and industrial wastewater.
Who is ISO 13162 for?
ISO 13162 on water quality testing is useful for:
- Government laboratories
- Industries that release wastewater in natural water bodies
- Geological scientists
- Nuclear power plant authorities
- Public water supply systems
Why should you use ISO 13162?
Radioactivity from several naturally occurring and anthropogenic sources is present throughout the environment. Thus, water bodies (e.g., surface waters, groundwaters, sea waters) can contain radionuclides of natural, human-made, or both origins.
The test method described in ISO 13162 is used during planning, existing, and emergency exposure situations as well as for wastewaters and liquid effluents with specific modifications that could increase the overall uncertainty, detection limit, and threshold.
The method described in ISO 13162, using currently available liquid scintillation counters and suitable technical conditions, has a detection limit as low as 1 Bq∙l−1, which is lower than the WHO criteria for safe consumption of drinking water.
What’s changed since the last update?
BS EN ISO 13162:2021 supersedes BS EN ISO 13162:2015, which is withdrawn. BS EN ISO 13162:2021 includes some technical and editorial changes with respect to BS EN ISO 13162:2015. These include:
- Introduction developed
- Scope updated
- References updated
- Sample preparation revised
