Workers at O'Neill Building exposed to low levels of radiation
By adamg - 5/17/11 - 6:20 pm
The Boston Fire Department reports an old device used for land surveying set off the dosimeters worn by a couple of security guards at the Tip O'Neill building on Causeway Street this afternoon.
The department says the two Federal Protective Service workers were not exposed to harmful doses by the device, stored in the building's basement - and neither the O'Neill Building nor the neighboring North Station was shut.
The Nuclear Regulatory Agency sent inspectors; a contractor licensed to handle radioactive material was brought in to remove the device.
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Comments
'old device used for land surveying'...?
Ok, any old civil engineers out there know what this device is? The old Illudium Q-36 Explosive Theodolite Modulator?
And as long as we're talking old radioactive machinery.... has anyone ever heard of x-ray machines that were installed in shoe stores back in the 30s or 40s for looking at your feet? My mother swears that these things existed and every time I mention them to people they look at me like I'm a senile old woman...
Shoe-store fluoroscopes
I don't remember ever seeing or using one, but they certainly existed and were once in wide use:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoe-fitting_fluoroscope
to quote the Sex Pistols...
"I'm a lazy sod." Thanks for the link to the wikipedia entry. Good to know dear old mom wasn't just hallucinating.
I wonder where these devices ended up over the years? (Someone want to search eBay for me?)
I Vaguely Recall One...
... being used to measure my feet, perhaps when I was three or four. I think it was at a downtown Thom McAn.
Nuclear Grampa, over and out.
Suldog
http://suldog.blogspot.com
Not sure if they are sill used.
Nuclear Densometer Test. Saw a few used years ago. The operator had to wear a badge that monitored radation levels.
Yes, those are still very
Yes, those are still very commonly used by geotechs.