text: is it safe to live next to a x-ray clinic?   you have to really think about this question.  have you ever been in a waiting room in a radiology department/facility?  have you seen all the pregnant women sitting there, waiting for their ultrasounds?  did you ever think this was a health risk for them?  any room that is used to take x-rays is shielded with lead in the walls.  you could be on the other side of a wall that x-rays were directed at and have no measurable dose. you could be in a bathroom that shares a wall with a x-ray room and get no dose.  the x-ray room is completely shielded so radiation cannot pass through it.  don't you think x-ray workers would all be dying of cancer, or at least all have cataracts if this wasn't the case?  have you ever had a loved one in the icu?  we also do x-rays in surgery and the emergency department. we do x-rays on portable machines on a regular basis.  if you are not right in the path of the x-ray beam, and if you are not close to that path, there is no exposure.  x-rays do not travel for eternity...they dissipate.    the use of x-rays and the rules that surround them are above and beyond what is necessary to protect the public.  these things are tested on an annual basis.  if we don't pass, we don't do x-rays anymore.    so, you should feel safe living next to an imaging center.