SI-units for radiation and activity

["Ing. A. Klerk" <boudewijn.klerk@tip.nl>]

RadSafers
I am just a newcomer in this place, although I am in the health-physics
corner for 29,5 years now. After reading through some hundreds of postings
to this list in the last few weeks I found something utterly annoying (like
in Health Physics, etc.): Most Americans still use the old radiation units
as if the INTERNATIONAL standards do not exist! And I found out why: NIST
has a pity on you, because they find it is far too difficult for you to
change to the new units, so you people from the US of A may use the old
units as the sole persons on this world!

I have sent the following Email to NIST:
>It is very annoying for Europeans to see that people in the US still use
the old units for activity >and the amount of radiation. Of course I am
pointing to the Curie, Roentgen, rad and rem. >Already almost twenty years
ago we had to change from these units to the new SI units >Becquerel, Gray
and Sievert. Of course this was very difficult for us, but we survived!
Directed >by CIPM we HAD TO DO THAT, it was just forbidden to use the old
units in any circumstance.
>And what happened in the US of A? Nothing! I just had to read in your site
that although 'The >CIPM currently accepts the use of all of the units given
in Table 7 with the SI except for the curie, >roentgen, rad, and rem.
Because of the continued wide use of these units in the United States, >NIST
still accepts their use with the SI'. (ref.:
http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/outside.html )
>What in Heaven's name is the reason we have Standardized Units? If YOU
(NIST) don't demand >the scientists (and all others) to use the
INTERNATIONALLY (SI) used units, then 'the wide use >will continue to exist
forever'.
>Very weak!

>I don't want to be rude, but it is really annoying to find that a complete
large country does not >follow the international guidelines (?) just because
it is difficult. I hope you understand this.

I hope I don't only speak for myself, nor only for the Europeans, but simply
for the ROW (rest of world). I sincerely hope this will open a discussion
which will lead to a really INTERNATIONALLY use of STANDARDS, also for the
Becquerel, Gray and Sievert!

                                                        DON'T BE AFRAID, we
did it too (15 years ago).

Best regards from,
 Arie (Boudewijn) Klerk (don't kill me, I am only the bellman)
 Radiation health physics supervisor at Dutch MOD
 Radiation health physics teacher at Hogeschool Haarlem
 Address: Perenlaan 10, 3723 VJ Bilthoven, Netherlands
 tel. +31 30 2288633 (home), fax. +31 346 217848 (work)
 cellular: +31 653 970159,  email: boudewijn.klerk@tip.nl
 ICQ# 3441072
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