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From: tom@syssoft.com (Rodentia)
Newsgroups: rec.radio.amateur.misc,sci.electronics
Subject: Re: How to measure/detect X-ray (cheap)?
Message-ID: <1991May6.200739.28370@syssoft.com>
Date: 6 May 91 20:07:39 GMT
References: <1991Apr23.172122.13076@Informatik.TU-Muenchen.DE> <4902@kitty.UUCP> <4212786@harvee.UUCP> <1991May3.194713.15676@rand.org>
Reply-To: tom@syssoft.com (Rodentia)
Organization: Systems & Software, Inc., Irvine, CA
Lines: 27

In article <1991May3.194713.15676@rand.org> edhall@rand.org writes:
  [description of testing a dosimeter by x-raying it, but not being informed
   of an exposure deleted]

>Could well be that the badge showed a high exposure, then a human was
>called into the loop who took one look at it and said "Looks like some
>joker put this one in the beam; no problem."  I'm sure that your wife's
>co-worker wasn't the first one to "test" the system in this way.

I hope that wasn't the case.  Consider this:  person positioning patient
when the x-ray machine machine either goes off spontaneously, or some
fool walks up and hits a button.  I'd sure want to know if this happened.

Is this really rare enough to be not a concern?

Aside:  My wife was informed that her badge was too hot one month.  She 
was told it was probably a fluke, and it never happened again.  They said
she may have left it too close to a TV or something.  She doesn't work
near x-ray anymore, and probably won't again.  (That incident wasn't the
decider, but why even risk it if you don't have to?)


-- 
Thomas Roden                                      | tom@syssoft.com
Systems and Software, Inc.                        | Voice: (714) 833-1700 x454 
"If the Beagle had sailed here, Darwin would have | FAX:   (714) 833-1900
come up with a different theory altogether." - me |