Slang for a self-reading pocket dosimeter, a small charged ion chamber in a pen-sized tube with a quartz fibre that moves across a scale as dose accumulates. The wearer reads it by holding it up to the light. Pencils back up TLDs for daily dose tracking where electronic dosimeters are not used, and they sit in emergency kits because they need no batteries.
Pencil's reading 150, that's more than the job estimate, let's stop and figure out where it came from.
Also heard as
- pencil dosimeter
- pocket dosimeter
- PIC
- SRD
- self-reading dosimeter
Related terms
Dosimeter
A device worn by a person to measure the radiation dose they receive.
EPD
Electronic personal dosimeter: a worn device that shows dose and dose rate live and alarms at set points.
TLD
Thermoluminescent dosimeter: a passive badge whose crystals store radiation energy and release it as light when heated.
Rem
The US customary unit of dose equivalent, equal to one hundredth of a sievert.