I think he may have got it wrong...I did the same thing by misinterpreting the data in an article. If you are not careful, it is easy to do.
You can measure actual exposure to a person’s body or hands with a dosimetry device that records how much they have accumulated during the time they were in contact with ionizing radiation. Film badges, TLD’s, that type of thing. This is usually in rems, millirems, rads or millirads, totaled.
Or, you can measure the exposure rate. This is in rem/hr; mrem/hr;rad/hr or mrad/hr typically. You get this reading from a detector that measures constantly.
If the context is wrong, you can completely misread it.
Don’t know if anyone has seen this posting about the Surgeon General saying it would be a good idea to get iodide.
http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Surgeon-General-Buying-Iodine-Appropriate-118031559.html