Originally Posted by
cardiomd
Trvlr64, I don't think he meant it that way... he meant that there is a strong culture of safety in medicine, not referring to the specific scenario of a tube "blown".
For example (in my field that I'm intimately familiar with) if there were unexplained geiger counts in our nuclear cardiology lab, the whole lab would most definitely be shut down until the radioactive material spill was located and cleaned. We would most likely be fined and have JCAHO and OSHA headaches for years, even if the spill was not significant to human life (say, one dose of tracer spilled somewhere). We would be penalized and audited for the future as it shows a sloppiness that is inexcusable.
The TSA has not shown that they audit the performance of these machines, or even demonstrated real-world third party data regarding output measurements in production units with effects on living tissue. Systematic low-dose irradiation of humans is not something to be taken lightly.
But let's be real here. That poster said "machine meltdown".
You're describing a radionuclide spill which would require a shut down you're correct. The x-ray backscatter isn't a constantly emitting x-ray source. It's only on when you step into the unit.
If it was "ON" the entire time then the entire TSA would be wearing dosimeters. And I don't see them wearing those.
And they wouldn't be constantly saying to travelers "it's safe".
"you get more radiation from flying"
.