We are in the nuclear age, but no we are not changing the fuel the #1 will be using. The technicians had to setup a safety perimiter for themselves and anyone around. The radioactive isotope is actually housed in the box on the floor that has a hand crank connected by the long yellow cables. After the X-ray film is placed on the boiler, a tech turns the hand crank that pushes the isotope to the end of the wand. In this application the wand has a machined piece of solid tungsten placed over it to aim the radiation in a column in one direction to shoot through thesteel.

Under the tape on the side of the boiler are lead numbers that will be used as locating marks to tell where a shot was taken. The lead will block a fair amount of the radiation and show up almost white on the negative.

Another great hurdle has been cleared today. X-rays on the first course patch all showed good welds! The 1st course patch is DONE! While there, they also shot the throat sheet knuckle pad welding and around the boiler check. The throat sheet is good and there are no more cracks around the boiler check than what had been found.