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Re: chirper

In a message dated 5/29/02 10:08:35 AM Pacific Daylight Time, liptonw@DTEENERGY.COM writes:


.  It now seems to be people comparing notes on where to find the
cheapest "chirper."  Two points:  (1) As I noted in an earlier post, 10 CFR 34
requires radiographers to use "an operating alarm ratemeter," NOT a chirper.
These devices are required to alarm at a preset dose rate.  Many of them also
alarm on integrated dose.  The better models can also generate a time versus dose
rate histogram, which is invaluable for accident investigation.  (2) These
radiography licensees are generally not "mom and pop" operations, although they
are sometimes very stingy regarding safety expenditures.  They should be buying
state of the art instrumentation, training their people on its proper use, AND
enforcing safety requirements.

The opinions expressed are strictly mine.
It's not about dose, it's about trust.
Curies forever.

Bill Lipton


Bill, you are right, of course.  But, all these devices will not do what a chirper will do, and that is prevent an overexposure.  The alarming device is after the fact.  The chirper is an ongoing monitor that is on the radiographer.  When things go wrong, and they will, the chirper will give a warning that the other devices will not (unless they chirp, too) and the radiographer can then take the appropriate actions, including surveys that are needed to recover.  When I had radiographers, they wore chirpers in addition to the other requirements.  They also understood that if they did not wear them, they would be fired on the spot.  The chirper was an absolute requirement to prevent incidents causing overexposures.

John Andrews
Knoxville, Tennessee