Product Licensing and Regulatory Compliance

In this area of our website you will find information regarding United States licensing and regulatory compliance for Thermo Scientific NITON^® analyzers. Please browse this area for information and links to other important sites that will help you with your safety, licensing, and regulatory questions.

If you are outside the United States, we recommend that you contact your local distributor of NITON analyzers for information about regulations and licensing in your area. If you do not find the information you are looking for here regarding use in the United States, you can contact the Radiation Safety Department at Thermo Fisher Scientific in Billerica, Massachusetts at 800-875-1578. You can also email questions to our radiation safety department at radsafety.pid.usbil@thermofisher.com.

Licensing of NITON Analyzers with Radioactive Sources (XL3p, XLp, XLi, XL-II and XL Series Analyzers)

To use and possess a portable XRF device containing radioactive material in the United States, one must be licensed. There are two types of licenses that are available in most areas of the country, one is called a general license, and the other is called a specific license.

Transportation of NITON analyzers with Radioactive Sources (XL3p, XLp, XLi, XL-II and XL Series analyzers)

Radioactive material is considered a hazardous material (HAZMAT) for the purposes of transport. This means that the transportation of a portable XRF device containing radioactive material is regulated. In the United States, the regulatory authority for HAZMAT transport is the Department of Transportation (DOT). The Federal hazardous materials transportation law (49 U.S.C. § 5101 et seq.), is the basic statute regulating the transportation of hazardous materials in the United States. This law requires the training of ALL hazmat employees. The purpose is to increase a hazmat employee's safety awareness and be an essential element in reducing hazmat incidents. You can find additional information about the DOT's training requirement on their website using the following links:

DOT Training Requirement

DOT Training Q&A

Thermo Fisher Scientific has developed a training module as a tool to help you provide HAZMAT training to your employees. This training module is specific to transporting NITON analyzers. You can access and download this training below (it is recommended to save the file to your computer first before opening it):

U.S. Transportation of Handheld Thermo Scientific NITON XRF Analyzers with ²⁴¹Am/⁵⁵Fe/¹⁰⁹Cd

NITON Analyzers with X-Ray Tubes (XLt and XL3t Series Analyzers)

Requirements for the X-Ray Tube Based Model XLt Series Analyzers

List of State Radiation Control Program Contacts

A list of the individual agreement state agencies and their contact information is maintained by the Federal Government at the Oak Ridge National Labs website. This web page also identifies which states are self-regulated (i.e., NRC agreement states) and which states are regulated directly by the NRC.

Other Documents