Pat,
I gently suggest that you have not done your usual careful reading of
the article that you cited.
The article does NOT suggest, as you assert, "that the nuclear industry
has chosen the same measuring path as that used for the Mars Climate
Orbiter in 1998." Rather, the article says that UK Nuclear Installations
Inspectorate (NII) has identified the issue you quote as being one of
"tens of areas that are at risk of becoming outstanding issues post
June-2011."
That date was the goal date set for completion of generic reactor plan
reviews. The NII states that the metrication issue in Westinghouse's
AP1000 design submittal is a problem that threatens completion of this
review and approval process.
Thus, it sounds to me that the UK authorities are choosing NOT to follow
the MCO into a death spiral caused by measurement confusion. Let us
celebrate NII's impetus to have things done correctly -- and in metric
units.
Jim
On 2010-11-12 1734, Pat Naughtin wrote:
Dear All,
I doubt that you will be pleased to know that the nuclear industry has
chosen the same measuring path as that used for the Mars Climate Orbiter
in 1998. You will recall that the Mars Climate Orbiter crashed on the
surface of Mars, at a cost of 328 million dollars, because one part of
the project team was using old pre-metric inches, ounces, pounds, and
miles while another section was using metres and kilograms.
This article from "/Nuclear Engineering International/" at
http://www.neimagazine.com/story.asp?sectioncode=132&storyCode=2058146
<http://www.neimagazine.com/story.asp?sectioncode=132&storyCode=2058146>
states (in the final paragraph):
… and metrication—many of the AP1000 submissions have been in Imperial,
rather than metric, units.
I suppose that we can now expect nuclear reactor "/crashes/" like the
Mars Climate Orbiter as soon as someone makes a conversion error.
Cheers,
Pat Naughtin
Author of the ebook, /Metrication Leaders Guide,/ see
http://metricationmatters.com/MetricationLeadersGuideInfo.html
Hear Pat speak at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lshRAPvPZY
PO Box 305 Belmont 3216,
Geelong, Australia
Phone: 61 3 5241 2008
Metric system consultant, writer, and speaker, Pat Naughtin, has helped
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