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When I was in my teens, we took a class trip to a nuclear reactor being built (never completed) in southern Indiana. I’ve long regretted I didn’t have a camera
by macintux 5y ago
When I was in my teens, we took a class trip to a nuclear reactor being built (never completed) in southern Indiana.
I’ve long regretted I didn’t have a camera with me to capture the large sign on one gate that read (paraphrased): “Danger: Microwaves on premises”
I wasn’t sure (still am not) whether they were referring to something industrial, but the thought that household microwave ovens at a nuclear power plant were sufficiently hazardous to require warning signs like that amused me.
- dijonman2 5y agoThe sign was most likely for pacemaker patients.
- ortusdux 5y agoAre modern ones still susceptible?
- Nextgrid 5y agoAren't they encased in some bio-compatible metal, essentially making them a faraday cage that should be immune even to direct exposure?
- joezydeco 5y agoI was always under the impression that microwaves posed a hazard to pacemakers because of the magnetic fields involved, not the RF emissions themselves. Pacemakers use magnetic switches inside the sealed device for programming and/or battery shutoff. Lots of things involve pacemaker warnings, including iPhones with MagSafe charging ports in the case.
- mark-r 5y agoI believe they use microwaves for inspecting the welds on pipes and such.
- 52-6F-62 5y agoThat's usually x-rayed if it's critical infrastructure AFAIK. Dad was a pipe fitter for Imperial Oil.
- laurent92 5y agoDepends on the size of the cracks you want to observe. For aircraft they use ultrasounds. I assume you dad used x-ray because methane and H2 are extremely small (they can’t be contained in, for example, water pipes, so the same goes for diagnostics and wavelengths).
- 52-6F-62 5y agoHot crude and hydrochloric acid under pressure are two I remember from his stories. He said they checked for hairline cracks. What that actually meant in practice for measurements I’m not sure.
- ortusdux 5y agoI've done a fair amount of weld inspection / NDT. X-ray would be the only radiation based method used on a construction site. This would typically be done in batches and require the evacuation of an exclusion zone.