New OSL dosimeters to debut in September
As we informed investigators last month (see NUtrino
Edition 13 on our web site; the address is at the bottom of this page),
beginning with the September 10th shipment those of you wearing film badges
(body badges) will receive new style badges that differ significantly
in appearance and performance. Optically Stimulated
Luminescence (OSL) badges will replace the traditional
film badges. OSL rings will not be introduced until sometime next year;
in the meantime, workers will continue to wear the old-style rings on
the new schedule. 
Your new badge will consist of a holder and a plastic-enclosed dosimeter that snaps in and out of place (the dosimeter is pictured at right). Initially you will receive both the holder and the dosimeter. In subsequent shipments you will receive only the dosimeter. Instead of placing film into a slot, you will snap the new dosimeter into the hexagonal plastic holder.
The new holder is foolproof—the dosimeter can be inserted only one way. As usual, the holder is "on loan" from the vendor, so be careful not to lose it or you will have to pay to replace it. After you receive the new OSL badges, return all of the old film badges and badge holders to ORS.
Body badges (as we will call OSL badges) and rings will now be exchanged bimonthly (every other month) instead of monthly. Your body badges and rings will arrive in September, November, January, March, May, and July. The body badges will be color-coded by wear period to make it easier to remember to change them.
You will see that the bimonthly report looks different, too. It will be 8 ½ by 11 inches instead of 8 ½ by 14. Doses to body badges will be recorded down to 1 mrem instead of the current 10 mrem. So, instead of seeing a series of "Ms" on the report you may see digits from 1 to 9. To reiterate, rings will not change to the new technology until sometime next year, and the current minimum reportable levels for rings will not change until then.
The pricing structure will change. The monthly cost of each body badge (OSL dosimeter) will rise $.44 to $1.71. The cost of rings will decrease $.29 per month to $1.83. We don’t know what the cost of the OSL rings will be when they are introduced next year. These are the actual costs of the dosimeters as charged by the vendor. ORS simply passes them along to the users.
Visit the Office for Research Safety and we will be glad to show you what the new badges look like and how they work.
Use this NUtrino as a training tool. Circulate it among the radiation workers in your group and have them sign and date the training form on the back. File it with your authorization and other radiation safety documents for review during regulatory inspections. Discuss it during laboratory meetings. We have back issues, or you can print them off the Web.