NVLAP offers new accreditation programs

The National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program (NVLAP) is now offering accreditation for certifiers of spectrophotomet-ric filter NIST Traceable Reference Materials (NTRMs) in the chemical calibration field of its Calibration Laboratories Accreditation Program. NIST Special Publication SP 260-140: Technical Specifications for Certification of Spectrophotometric NTRMs, describes an NTRM as "a commercially produced reference material with a well defined traceability linkage to existing NIST chemical measurement standards."

In addition, under the terms of an agreement between NIST and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), NVLAP now accredits laboratories that are competent to characterize samples and to conduct proficiency test programs to support EPA requirements for environmental laboratories. Technical oversight of the program and the evaluation process is provided by NIST.

NVLAP accreditation is offered in areas necessary to support environmental laboratory testing of drinking water and waste water. Testing is currently divided into three major areas: inorganic chemical analysis; organic chemical analysis; and biological and microbiological testing. A fourth group, radiological testing and analysis, will be added in the near future. To date, 11 providers have been accredited for various program codes within the three groups. The Directory of Accreditation Laboratories on the NVLAP web site at http:// ts.nist.gov/nvlap provides details.