[ RadSafe ] SI Units

[Sandy Perle]

Hi John,

I do not believe that the US will adopt the SI units any time soon. 
Ideally it would make sense to transition to the SI units, 
understanding that we are among very few in numbers that continue to 
use the non-SI unit, and, globalization within the market and 
scientific community is getting smaller all the time.

There are many issues to contend with a transition. It is more than 
the work-place understanding the units. I do believe, and we have 
seen, serious incidents occur whereby workers did not understand the 
data, and, mis-judegements occurred, in some cases with significant 
consequences. Assuming that these issues are eliminated, there are 
the significant administrative and economic costs to contend with. 
Just looking a the NPPs, training programs, revision of all SOPs, 
postings, manuals and other documents would require revision at 
substantial cost. There would be the issues with existing 
instrumentation and read-out devices.

I am not implying that all of these issues can't be mitigated to some 
degree. I recognize that others have had to go through this 
transition as well, and successfully implemented the new programs. 
One just needs to be aware of all that must be done and determine the 
impact as well as the time-frame to accomplish. Again, I just don't 
see that this transition will occur due to the economic burden, and, 
more importantly, there is nobody really pushing for this transition.

Regards,

Sandy

On 15 Jan 2007 at 15:47, John R Johnson wrote:

> Bob
> 
> Does that the fact that you "feel that SI units are more of a safety hazard than a value" mean that you will always think this. I don't agree! I think that having two "systems" is the problem.
> 
> FYI, I worked in the US (at PNL, now PNNL) for ~11 years, and was almost completely "SI" before I moved in 1998. I heard (many times!) that the US would be SI "soon" and many US scientist/technical people are. 
> 
> To all Radsafers; when do you think soon should/will occur?
> 
> John
>  _________________
> John R Johnson, Ph.D.
> *****
> President, IDIAS, Inc
> 4535 West 9-Th Ave
> Vancouver B. C.
> V6R 2E2
> (604) 222-9840
> idias at interchange.ubc.ca

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Sandy Perle 
Senior Vice President, Technical Operations 
Global Dosimetry Solutions, Inc. 
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