Re[2]: X-Ray vision is here

[BRZGV@ccmail.ceco.com]

     I believe I have seen such a detector used for laundry scanning 
     purposes, but not quite sure where.
     
     Glen Vickers


______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Re: X-Ray vision is here
Author:  radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu at INTERNET
Date:    4/12/97 9:47 AM


>The system that everyone has been discussing the past week is 
>actually manufactured and in use.  It is produced by Nicolet 
>Imaging Systems of San Diego.  
     
There is an article in the March issue of the CERN Courier, entitled 
"Minidose X-rays". CERN Courier is an international journal subscribed to by 
most high-energy physicists, and should be available in many university 
libraries. The article describes a state-of-the-art X-ray imaging system 
developed by the Budker Institute for Nuclear Research in Russia, which has 
been evaluated by a team from the University of London, with some 
involvement by Nobel-prize-winning physicist Georges Charpak. It is 
presently being tested at hospitals in Moscow and Paris.
     
It describes how a collimated X-ray beam is scanned over the body and 
detected with a special multi wire proportional chamber. The advantage of 
the system is that, with digital readout and computer processing, much more 
information is obtained than with a standard X-ray system. Cost is $100,000 
to $250,000. It sounds like a relative of the Nicolet system that has been 
discussed on RadSafe.
     
However, although the partial dose for a single pixel is of order a few 
microrem, the whole-body dose from the complete scan is 40 mrem.
     
"Shlala gashle" (Zulu greeting meaning "stay safe") mike