New x-ray machines at UK airports

[trevor_maxted]

Does anybody know if the new hand luggage x-ray machines at UK airports are

supposedly film safe? These were allegedly introduced prior to the lifting of

the 'one piece of hand luggage only' rule.

[mark u]

The jury is still out on this:

 

http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/news/New_breed_of_hand_baggage_scanners_to_undergo_independent_tests_regarding_film_safety_news_172093.html

[curt wiler]

Interesting that testing is to be done AFTER the machines are installed. What happens if they fail? Also, there is no mention of testing film that is to be pushed one or two stops, which is the worst case.

[kelly_flanigan1]

Major airports were using xrays back in 1973 when Ralph Radar was suing that they caused a "potential health hazard". Photo magazines ran tests with asa 400 tri-x and 125 Kodacolor. Some of us bought leaded foil bags. Others said the screener chaps just turned up the "JUICE" to see thru the foil bags. I guess the jury is still out about xrays and films 35 years later!

[trevor_maxted]

As I understand it with the 'older' machines it was not possible to increase the doseage as it were, it could/would constitue a health hazard to the operator. I, and I expect most of us who travel, have been asked to open my photo bag on a few times if it contained a lead pouch, another indication that they could not be turned up to see through things.

[mark u]

It seems clear that these new machines use a much higher total X-Ray dose (mainly because they take multiple exposures at different orientations like a CT scanner). The manufacturer claims a maximum of only 5 passes with sub 1600 ISO film. Independent tests sound like a good idea, as they should avoid controversy. Whether hand search will be offered as an alternative to X-Ray if the machines prove damaging (especially to faster emulsions) is a moot point.

[trevor_maxted]

I, and a good many others I assume, have a departure at the end of February, well before any test results are likely to be available. All very unsatisfactory really, we only have the manufacturers (& BAA's) word that film will not be affected.

[bob_flood1]

I took a look at the manufacturer's web site. This new machine is significantly different from the ones commonly encountered. It has 2 x-ray tubes to take shots vertically (the beam is aimed down thru the conveyor belt) and horizontally (the new machine has a big block of shielding material on one side because of this). Both tubes will actually fire several times using different voltages to produce different energy x-ray beams. This is a very sophisticated machine - it should be able to use those different energies and angles to identify explosives by their density very well. A clear improvement in its intended function.

 

The BAD BAD BAD news is that film will be exposed several times per pass instead once per pass. I would expect that these multiple exposures in the new machine can each be a smaller exposure than the typical single shot we see today, but even so, the cumulative dose is bound to be higher than we've been seeing in the past 10 years or so.

 

I think some practical tests are in order, and people like the folks in this forum should contact film manufacturers to make them aware that we are concerned, very concerned. If these machines work as expected in their first installation, they will be EVERYWHERE within a few years.

[mvw photo]

But the GOOD GOOD GOOD news is (and I speak from experience: I flew back from Heathrow to Canada yesterday) that PCs no longer need to be extricated from their bag.

[trevor_maxted]

I went through T4 at Heathrow at the end of February, the new machines were in use. There is no sign of fogging etc on my transparancies. I only took a handful of film, as digital back-up, and these were in a lead pouch within a second, albeit rather worn, lead pouch. I was not asked to open the bag at all so either this machine could see through the lot or the operator assumed it was film. I've never been asked to open a lead bag even though on most x-ray machines it shows up as a black blob. This was the only x-ray devise the films went through. In China, our destination where we had three internal flights, they were always helpful with hand search requests, such searches are thorough by the ground staff though. Trevor Maxted.