Re: Airport X-rays & Computers

["Scott D. Kniffin" <Scott.D.Kniffin.1@gsfc.nasa.gov>]

William,
Speaking from the radiation testing side of my job, the likelyhood of such
a small dose hurting a chip in a printer is so small I'd fall down laughing
if it weren't some tech support guy trying to skip on fixing a defective
unit for you.  I hate people that cry radiation damage for equipment like
this, makes me itch.  If you need me to scream at the H(igh)P(rice) people
for being brainless, let me know, I need some stress relief.  If anything
else goes wrong today (and I'm supposed to leave now for an appointment)
somebody is going to get seriously injured.  Then I can put my CPR and
First Aid Training to good use.  (Now tie the turniquite firmly about the
neck...)  Let me know what you need, I'll be back in tomorrow afternoon.  

Scott Kniffin

mailto:Scott.D.Kniffin.1@gsfc.nasa.gov
RSO, Unisys Corp. @ Lanham, MD
CHO, Radiation Effects Facility, GSFC, NASA, Greenbelt, MD

The opinions expressed here are my own.  They do not necessarily represent
the views of Unisys Corporation or NASA.  This information has not been
reviewed by my employer or supervisor.  

At 11:49 05/11/98 -0500, you wrote:
>Radsafers:
>
>     Last Wednesday a colleague of mine took her Hewlett-Packard
>portable inkjet computer printer with her on a plane.  The printer
>was in her carry-on luggage and passed through the X-ray detector
>at John Wayne Airport in Orange County, CA.  Upon arrival the
>printer wouldn't work.  A call to the HP technical support line
>elicited the response that the X-rays had fried the printer's
>electronics.
>
>     How likely do you find this explanation?  Do you get the
>impression that the HP tech might have been too quick to blame
>something not covered by the warranty?  After all, portable
>computers are carried on board planes by the thousands every day.
>
>     Have any Radsafers had a similar experience?  I'm not talking
>about stray magnetic fields erasing a floppy or two.  To my
>knowledge there was no magnetic storage in the printer.  We seen to
>be talking about X-rays themselves zapping an EPROM or something.
>
>     If you do think this is a likely explanation, then why is this
>starting now?  Is it due to smaller/more fragile electronics or
>stronger X-ray fields?  Do we need to post a warning?
>**********************************************************************
>William G. Nabor
>University of California, Irvine
>EH&S Office
>Irvine, CA,  92697-2725
>WGNABOR@UCI.EDU
>mailto:wgnabor@uci.edu
>**********************************************************************
>
>