Re: ALARA

[Philip Hypes <phypes@lanl.gov>]

But when it's government money, it IS your money.  Think about the cost of
cleaning up a government run site to LNT levels, then think about how much
you pay in taxes each paycheck.  Even in a private company, the money that
is spent pushing 1 mrem per month down to .5 mrem per month can't be
reinvested in the company's future or employee salaries.  This "not my
money so who cares" attitude is hugely irresponsible.

Now, I'm not saying you're hugely irresponsible;  I know (hope) you were
just engaging in a little hyperbole, making the point that people generally
tend to be much more concerned with their own skins than an unknown,
abstracted individual.  But that attitude is totally incompatible with
responsible self-governance.  If you spend ALARA dollars differently than
if it were money from your bank account to protect your health, I don't
think you have any business making ALARA decisions for others.

At 04:32 PM 4/3/00 -0500, you wrote:
>I agree.  The decision is very difficult.  I don't have an answer.  If I
>was the Rad Worker no cost is too much.  I value my well being above
>money.  If it is not my money I am spending.  I just wanted to throw in
>my two cents and see what the wolves were going to do to me.
>
>Jeff Hoffman
>
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___________________________________________________________
Philip Hypes
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Safeguards Science and Technology Group (NIS 5)
(505) 667-1556  phypes@lanl.gov

Opinions expressed are purely my own unless otherwise noted

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