Re: Blatant refusal to "follow" procedures

["Frank "Free Spirit" Borger" <frank@rover.bsd.uchicago.edu>]

> Date:          Wed, 1 Jan 97 12:38:59 -0600
> Reply-to:      radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu
> From:          "Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@ix.netcom.com>
> To:            Multiple recipients of list <radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu>
> Subject:       Blatant refusal to "follow" procedures

> Here is an article regarding a facility fined 5 times by the NRC for 
> violating regulations. NOTE: The article refers to these violations 
> as "violating federal radiation-safety rules." This is what the 
> public sees.

-	I can't speak for all state agencies, but the Illinois Dept of Nuclear
	Safety has a similar bent toward paperwork rather than reality.

	Because I am not board certified, I can no longer calibrate radiation
	therapy machines, (although I have been doing it for 25 years or so.)
	I recently asked  an  IDNS inspector  the following question.

	Our board certified physicist takes a  calibration block and build-up
	block (which I  constructed,) and  exposes an ion chamber under
	the therapy machine. He then  feeds the raw meter reading into a
	computer program (which I wrote.) The program  applies several
	correction factors, (which I have selected or calculated,) and generates
	a report showing the number of centi-Gray per machine unit.
	According to state  definition, who is doing the calibration?

	Yup! According  to IDNS, I am not involved.

	Another interesting catch-22 is that one requirement of board
	certification is to show that you have calibrated a therapy machine,
	but in  Illinois, even board-eligible physicists who  are studying
	for their boards are prohibited from calibrating machines. 

Frank R. Borger - Physicist - Center for Radiation Therapy
net: Frank@rover.uchicago.edu   ph: 312-791-8075 fa: 791-3697

What's the best way to tune a Banjo? With an Axe! -  What's the
difference between a dead skunk and a dead banjo player on the
road? The skunk was on his way to a gig!