[ RadSafe ] SI Units

[Sandy Perle]

On 18 Jan 2007 at 14:52, osuleiman at comcast.net wrote:

> And I do think that universal adoption of SI units will eventually happen, it really is inevitable- but I continue to be amazed that it is discussed and debated to the extent that it is.  How can one expect to be respected as open minded and collegial and yet behave in a way that can only be perceived as bordering on the stubborn?

Hello Orhan,

Your comments are pertinent to the debate at hand. I do agree that this transition will happen 
at some point, but I don't think that it will happen any time soon. I recall this topic being 
discussed back in the 70's and as you pointed out, it is still being debated.

You will recall that the NRC specifically required that occupational dose reports not be 
provided using SI units, it was directly prohibited in 10CFR20.

I also agree that being one of the lone stand-outs does cause embarrassment to the US 
when attending international meetings. As Chair, Health Physics Society Standards 
Committee, we have made efforts to include the SI units along with the accepted non-SI units 
in all of our N13 and N43 Standards. I believe that N42 does as well. As others have pointed 
out by others, instrumentation for the most part does include all units, primarily due to the 
global market as it is. 

In time this will happen. For this to be expedited, there needs to be a major sponsoring entity 
pushing for it, that does not exist today.

Regards.

Sandy

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