SFGOON wrote:Beh - I don't think X-rays that a man can survive could penetrate the lock to produce a clear enough picture.
I work as a radiographers assistant on the oil field. This means I Xray welds, and the radiographer develops the film, and interprets the welds. I know for a fact if you had some D5 film on one end of the lock, and a collumated Iridium 192 source, on the other you could very easily penetrate the lock, and expose the film to show its mechanism.
What you would need to know is the shot time to successfully expose the film correctly. For instance a 500 wall 12" weld with a 20 curie camera requires a 3, and one half minute shot time. However if your camera was 100 curies the same exact shot would require only 1 minute, and 35 seconds or so.
Also radiation safety is a big deal. One person has to be a carded radiographer, or a level II tech. There has to be a second person by law which is at least trained in radiation safety. A proper radiation area using cones, or signs must be established. As a rule of thumb I would use 10 ft to every curie. Plus an extra 10 for cusion just in case someone comes into your area. You would also need a dosimeter to tell you how many mR yous pick up in a day. mR stands for milliRemkins. 5 R or 5000 mR will give you radiation poisoning. However just being in an area of 100 mR per hour "can" give you a radiation burn which would be extremely painful. For this you would also need a survey meter, and rate alarm. The rate alarm beeps anytime you walk into an area over 100 mR per hour, and the survey meter reads how much radiation is in the area in mR per hour. You also cannot pick up more than 200 mR in a day says the NRC(Nuclear Regulatory Commission). Your source must also have proper depleted Uranium shielding, and be locked while in transport. Your also not to leave a radioactive source unattended when not properly stored, and locked as the general public may get a hold of the source.
The NRC has many stupid, and practical laws which you would have to abide by.
As I am suspecting you are not certified to be in a radiation area you are not allowed to handle radioactive material, or be in an area of more than 2 mR per hour.
