Radio Analysis Labaratory

Necsa Laboratory Services provides analyses of various products and a wide range of materials for quality control purposes, research and compliance with required specifications and standards. We have sufficient skills, experience and equipment to provide a full range of analytical services for determining chemical and radioactive content of a variety of material. A wide scope of ISO/IEC 17025 accredited methods are available and the scope is extended on an ongoing basis.

Necsa is proud of having served industry for the past 20 years and will continue to do so.

As SANAS accredited laboratories with decades of experience, Necsa laboratories can accurately analyse a wide range of materials for our clients across many industry sectors including nuclear, mining and mineral processing, manufacturing, and healthcare. Most of the customers are in companies that include pharmaceutical, food, energy, chemical, consumer products and more. Chemical analysis is vital for regulatory compliance and to ensure the quality of your materials.  Chemical analysis also supports product development by providing the information you need to understand the composition and chemical properties of your materials. The data provided aid in decision making and ensuring that products are manufactured and perform as specified.

Testing services include the following:

• Certification of purity of radiopharmaceuticals.
• Certification of radioactivity content of food products for export.
• Forensic analytical services for detailed investigation of product and processes to resolve legal issues.
• Material characterization and verification,
• Chemical composition analysis.
• Chemical trace analysis.
• Elemental analysis.
• Chemical regulatory compliance testing.
• A variety of procedures specific to water and other matrices.

Our laboratory uses a wide range of material analysis techniques using advanced analytical instrumentation. All analyses are performed at the required sensitivity and accuracy for compliance with relevant regulations and certification requirements.

• Low background gas flow proportional detectors (GFPC), alpha spectrometry and gamma spectrometry for radioactivity measurements.
• Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA) is used to determine impurities in materials and for characterization of metals.
• High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC)
• Mass-spectrometry (MS)
• Ion-chromatography (IC)
• Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS)
• Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES)
• X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometry (XRFS)
• X-ray Diffraction (XRD)
• Gas Chromatography (GC)
• Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (AAS)
• LECO
• PAL to add more information if possible

• The majority of the test methods used in our labs are accredited by SANAS. The scope of accreditation can be downloaded from the SANAS website with the testing laboratory number T0111 and T0168. We perform testing protocols according to standard methodologies (ISO, ASTM, etc) and are experts in developing tailored analytical methods and performing method validation for specific testing applications.
• The laboratory regularly participates in Proficiency Exercises for radioactivity analysis (PROCORAD, IAEA-ALMERA, IARMA) and chemical analysis (PAL info to be added).
• Our scientists are highly experienced and capable of providing technical support and training via IAEA expert missions.
• Our scientists present scientific papers at local and international conferences and publish in local and international journals.
• Our laboratory hosts training on behalf of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to build capacity amongst African Countries. One of our scientists is the counterpart for this capacity building project in Africa.
• The Head of Gamma and INAA section scientist is serving as a counterpart of an IAEA AFRA Technical Cooperation (TC) project for reactor utilization. The purpose of the TC is to continuously improve the application of the INAA technique.