RE: units

["Weiner, Ruth" <rfweine@sandia.gov>]

Just a correction (from a badge wearer).  It wasn't pink and blue or
"sexist," it was yellow (actually sort of orange) for L clearance, dark blue
for Q clearance, red for building access only, and there was an implied
status.  The badges are now green and have a number that indicates clearance
level.

Ruth F. Weiner, Ph. D.
Sandia National Laboratories 
MS 0718, POB 5800
Albuquerque, NM 87185-0718
505-844-4791; fax 505-844-0244
rfweine@sandia.gov


-----Original Message-----
From: Michael Stabin [mailto:stabin@npd.ufpe.br]
Sent: Wednesday, September 08, 1999 8:32 AM
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: units


Sandy Perle wrote:

>It is simplistic to move towards complete transition without
>considering all of the appropriate factors.

>(2) All procedures must be revised. In the power reactor world alone,
>this would be a monumental task, at considerable cost.

However, I hear this was done very quickly at a major national laboratory
for a much more trivial problem - when Hazel O'Leary thought the use of pink
and blue ID badges for different levels of security was sexist.  Procedures
were reformulated, manuals were rewritten, new badges were issued, very
quickly, job done.

>(1) A significant training program must be implemented in all
>facilities that will use the new units;
>(4) Think of the media and the public.

I would argue that working with the current dual system of units is worse
and more confusing.  This was seen many times during the Chernobyl incident,
we had various people reporting results in SI and antediluvian units, and
everyone was more confused.  In the medical arena, we have the inherent
risks which have always been there with problems such as the confusion of
prefixes (e.g. micro and milli), now we have factors of 3.7, 37 and others
that can be misapplied when working quickly, often to the patient's
detriment.

We standardize many things based on the recommendations of international
bodies such as the ICRP, ICRU and others, this is another example of where
we should standardize for uniformity of communication, ease of use (SI is
just plain easier to use - many less strange factors such as 16, 144, 32 to
remember, just within the system itself), and other reasons.  The US should
pull off the band aid quickly, get it over with, and quit complaining about
it,  IMHO.


Michael Stabin
Departamento de Energia Nuclear/UFPE
Av. Prof. Luiz Freire, 1000 - Cidade Universitaria
CEP 50740 - 540
Recife - PE
Brazil
Phone 55-81-271-8251 or 8252 or 8253
Fax  55-81-271-8250
E-mail stabin@npd.ufpe.br


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