Question about the cause of failure (???)

[mail15077@pop.net]

Any idea why the dosimeters failed in this manner.  Is it something that 
"modern" pocket dosimeters might be subject to?

Jim Barnes, CHP
Radiation Safety Officer
Rocketdyne Division; Boeing North American

===============================================

  Some additional information in reference to John Kilbane's post on cdv's...
    >   Back in '86 I did a little study on the civil defense kit pocket 
    > dosimeters
    >   while I
    >    was a summer intern at ORNL's Dosimetry Applications Research facility.
    > 
    >   If I remember correctly, there were three brands of pencils included,
    >   Landsvaark,
    >   Bendix, and Victoreen... some of each brand reading 0 to 200 mR, some 0 
    > to 200
    >    R.
    >   Most were very old.
    > 
    >   As you all might have expected, a good number of the dosimeters, even 
    > tho
    >   ancient,
    >   responded and functioned quite well.  The surprise was in the 
    > dosimeters that
    >   failed,
    >   and the way in which they failed.  Depending on the brand, somewhere 
    > between
    >   6% to 20%
    >   of the dosimeters would zero properly and appear to be functional, but 
    > would
    >   drastically
    >   over-respond when irradiated.  These dosimeters would rezero just fine 
    > again.
    >   The only way you would know they were defective is if you had others 
    > exposed
    >   to the
    >   same field for comparison.
    > 
    >   So, hypothetically, if these were in actual use, some poor guy might 
    > think
    >   he'd gotten
    >   180 R when in reality it was 10 R.  Of course, its probably a moot 
    > issue, not
    >   to mention
    >   a little obscure for our purposes, but thought some of you might be 
    > interested
    >    anyhow.
    > 
    >   Robin Siskel
    >   (Robin_Siskel@notes.ymp.gov)
    >   The standard disclaimer
    > Cannot find REALITY.SYS. Universe halted.
    >