[ RadSafe ] SI units (was Oregon..etc)

[Perle, Sandy]

Thanks Mike. I think those who have lobbied against the conversion have
based their opposition on the premise that those industries that are
regulated, would have to change all of their procedures, training
programs, reporting requirements, etc. Then there all of the manufacturers
of instrumentation (they can easily modify scales to report in SI units),
but all of the instruments currently in operation would have to be also
modified. Then there are also those concerned that if errors were made
based on the units and their understanding, that could cause serious
consequences. With the last point I agree since there have been instances
in many other areas, such as NASA where misreading a SI unit caused
serious issues.

As far as being an "old-timer", perhaps there is a threshold as to who is
called an "old-timer". I've been doing this since 1970 now. Guess I
qualify!

All the best!

Sandy

-----------------------------------
Sander C. Perle
President
Mirion Technologies
Dosimetry Services Division
2652 McGaw Avenue
Irvine, CA 92614

+1 (949) 296-2306 (Office)
+1 (949) 296-1130 (Fax)

Mirion Technologies: http://www.mirion.com/





On 3/26/11 10:25 AM, "Stabin, Michael" <michael.g.stabin at Vanderbilt.Edu>
wrote:

>
>I will agree with my good friend Sandy while disagreeing. The time was
>long ago. Ronald Reagan in 1981, tried to get the country to move to SI -
>one of the few times I saw him back down on principle, as he came in on a
>platform of reducing regulatory burden on industry and the industries
>wailed about the costs of converting. We had liters of gas for a while,
>but only liquor and soda have stayed in SI while gas went back to gallons
>and the whole SI thing was abandoned for another generation. All of us
>are learning new things every day, if we want to stay up with our
>profession. old timers and new can DO THIS. Do any of you 'old timers'
>not know what 2 liters of soda looks like?
>
>Our intransigence on this issue has baffled me since I entered this
>profession, in the 1980s. I had a sign on my door in grad school that
>said "Se habla becquerel". Most of you know how long ago THAT
>was...haha...and I'm still depressed about the US position on this issue.
>
>
>Mike
>
>Michael G. Stabin, PhD, CHP
>Associate Professor of Radiology and Radiological Sciences
>Department of Radiology and Radiological Sciences
>Vanderbilt University
>1161 21st Avenue South
>Nashville, TN 37232-2675
>Phone (615) 343-4628
>Fax   (615) 322-3764
>e-mail     michael.g.stabin at vanderbilt.edu
>internet   www.doseinfo-radar.com
>_______________________________
>------------------------------
>
>Message: 21
>Date: Sat, 26 Mar 2011 10:49:53 -0500
>From: "Perle, Sandy" <SPerle at mirion.com>
>Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] SI units (was Oregon..etc)
>To: "The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) Mailing
>        List"   <radsafe at health.phys.iit.edu>
>Message-ID: <C9B358BA.8588%sperle at mirion.com>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
>Franz and Mike and others are correct. The time to start the transition is
>now. It's all about educating the incoming physicists. Perhaps it's too
>late for the "old-timers", but attrition takes care of that!
>
>Regards,
>
>Sandy
>
>-----------------------------------
>Sander C. Perle
>President
>Mirion Technologies
>Dosimetry Services Division
>2652 McGaw Avenue
>Irvine, CA 92614
>
>+1 (949) 296-2306 (Office)
>+1 (949) 296-1130 (Fax)
>
>Mirion Technologies: http://www.mirion.com/
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