Re: Your expert perspective...

[Bernard L Cohen <blc+@pitt.edu>]

	I believe the SI units were developed and adopted by 
International Union of Pure and Applied Physics. Radiation units were a 
trivial percentage of that initiative.

On Thu, 28 Sep 1995 Tom_Fox@EHS.ucsd.edu wrote:

>           Good day radsafers
>           
>           An associate of mine is taking a general biology class at a 
>           local community college. The instructor has an anti nuke 
>           agenda. She has given the class an assignment asking the 
>           class to answer particular questions concerning the nuclear 
>           power industry. One question suggests that the nuclear power 
>           industry started to replace REM with the SI unit Sieverts 
>           for dose equivalent reporting. This instructor is convinced 
>           that this was done because the sv equivalent for rem would 
>           appear to be a smaller number, and would not be such a shock 
>           when reported to the public. Rather than reporting 100 rem, 
>           the industry would fool the world by reporting 1 sv. This 
>           change, as the instructor points out, was done after the 
>           Chernobyl accident. 
>           
>           Would anyone care to shed some light on this assumption? I'm 
>           sure one rational shotgun blast will blow her theory away. 
>           Sorry if it raised your blood pressure. Thanks in advance. I 
>           can't imagine anyone being further off base.
>           
>           T.Fox
>           Sr. HP Tech
>           Office of EH&S
>           University of California, San Diego
>           tom_fox@ehs.ucsd.edu
>