Radiation Detected!

If you are following my blog you may have noticed I mention the name of the business I was at!  I am doing this because one would expect to be exposed to some radiation at a hospital or medical office.  Also, the rates I am writing about during this incident are much much lower than the high background rates that one would experience while flying in an airplane, climbing a mountain, or in places like the French Riveria, Ramsar Iran, or beaches in India.     

On Thursday I was in the waiting room of  Southwest Oklahoma MRI while my wife was getting an MRI.  Worth noting, MRI's use magnets, not x-rays to create an image.  However I believe that they may do some x-rays at the facility I was at.  In the past I have been able to go to the imaging area with my wife.  Today was different because we went in during normal business hours, and I was left to sit in the waiting room.

While I was waiting I was surprised at the number of people waiting for MRIs.  There were 6 people waiting, of those two where couples.  The waiting room was rather nice, lots of magaziines, and a cable hookup for an HDTV.  The History Channel was on.

About 1/2 way through my expected one hour stay, the PM1703m alarmed, background was 7 µR/hr, the PM1703m went up to 14 µR/hr, then slowly increased to 36 µR/hr, then gradually went down to a background  over the course of about 30 seconds.

The measurements, as far as I know where not typical of an x-ray machine, I would imagine that the alarm would go off with a spike.  I have no way to test this right now, so it is a theory as to the operation of the PM1703m.  I currently think that someone who may have gotten a nuclear medical test of some sort may have driven past the building in the parking lot.  There are an abundance of medical labs in this area, and it is possible that someone may have had some sort of medical diagnostic procedure in the vacinity.  Also worh noting, the building is across from Mercy Hospital and Mercy Heart Hospital.