Re: idiot-proof survey meters

["Radiological Health Unit" <raldrich@emi.com>]

I was off-line for the long weekend and on Tuesday my mail server went
down, so I have just now finished reading most of the responses generated
by my original (surprisingly provocative) post. 

To those of you who responded with concrete suggestions, both to the list
and via private e-mail, thank you. I think I have some pretty good leads on
possible instruments.

To those who felt the need to respond in a  more philosophical vein, let me
try to elaborate a bit as to the motivation for my query. 

Firstly, please accept my assertion that of course I know that there is no
such thing as an idiot-proof survey meter,  and there is certainly no
substitute for a well trained workforce. However, I did indicate in my
original post that I was being somewhat facetious in my request, and I also
indicated that the intended application for the meters was at waste
transfer facilities.

The situation as it currently exists is as follows: 

Increasingly municipal waste transfer facilities are installing portal
monitors. There is no regulatory requirement for them to do so, however
since the landfills to which they ship almost universally are required to
screen incoming shipments for radiation, the transfer facilities have found
that they have little choice but to follow suit. The problem is that the
monitors are set to alarm at a few percent above background and the persons
operating the facility - sanitation workers, don't understand the
significance of the information that their monitoring system is providing.
(For instance, I recently asked the operator of such a facility what
radiation levels his monitor was recording from a suspect shipment. "12.04"
was the reply. "12.04 what?" I asked. Silence was the response. It turned
out to be kdpm, but it took some investigative work, including a phone call
to the manufacturer of the device.) Once the alarm goes off, the regulating
agency is obliged to send an inspector to the site to conduct a survey.
99.9% of the time there is nothing there but a diaper or chux from a
nuclear medicine out-patient . This is a large waste of the inspectors'
time and the taxpayers' money. Requiring the municipal transfer facility to
hire and HP to survey garbage trucks all day is also a big waste of money
(taxpayers' again).

We would like to be able to determine over the phone whether or not an
inspector's presence is required. A survey meter that would read out in
known units and can be easily operated by a sanitation worker might make
this possible. Thus my inquiry. (The alarm features mentioned in my
original post were fanciful.) 

Clearly there are other problems to be overcome before such a plan would be
workable. But an idiot-proof (fool-proof for the politically correct?)
survey meter is a necessary, if insufficient condition.

************************************************************************
Clayton Bradt, CHP <raldrich@emi.com>        phone: 518/457-1202
Assoc. Radiophysicist                         fax:      518/485-7406
NYS Dept. of Labor
Radiological Health Unit
Blg.12, Rm 134A
State Office Campus
Albany, NY 12240
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