This webinar is based on a talk given at the 2025 AURPO conference. It explains a method for identifying unknown radioactive materials— for example, an unexpected unlabelled source discovered by chance in the back of a store room. The webinar focuses on how to gather the radiological and other data to work out what the source is and an estimate of its activity. It doesn’t, however, go into detail about how to reduce contamination or exposure.

Presented by Ralph Whitcher (CLEAPSS)

Ralph was a head of physics at secondary school level. During the 1990s he moved into the education advisory service, supporting teachers in science.  There, he became the RPA for schools in the local authority back in the bad old days when certification was not required. Ralph became a certified RPA in 2004 through the RPA2000 scheme and later joined CLEAPSS school advisory service as a senior physics adviser and the lead RPA for CLEAPSS RPA body.

Ralph is a member of the AURPO Executive and one of the AURPO/Strathclyde University course tutors.  He serves on the SRP's Research and Teaching Committee, chairing it from 2009 to 2016. He is also on the SRP’s Outreach Committee.