Re: quarterly vs. monthly TLDs revisited

["Jim F. Herrold" <HERROLD@UWYO.EDU>]

Erick L of MSU:

I'm curious, how many people do you currently badge? We have around 150
beta/gamma whole-body and 20 beta/gamma/fast neutron. The cost with Landauer
with monthly film vs. quarterly TLD is actually slightly higher, but it is the
"time" constituent that would be the real savings. On the other hand, going
from a monthly to quarterly neutron badge for the 20 we issue could save us
$860 a year. To my knowledge, we have never had a neutron exposure on campus
except to the monitor in the storage room where all the sources are kept.

Still, I have to agree: We badge, not because of the requirement of monitoring
where 10% of the limits is possible (gee, I don't think we've ever come even
close to that), but because of the perceptions of and assurance to users and
regulators. There is no amount of training or documentation that can substitute
for actual monitoring results.

Jim H of UW