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Articles
and Information About Radiation
Contact INL Oversight
Boise
Office
1410 N. Hilton
Boise, ID 83706
ph: (208) 373-0498
fx: (208) 373-0429
Idaho
Falls Office
900 N. Skyline Dr.
Idaho Falls, ID
83402
ph: (208) 528-2600
fx: (208) 528-2605
INL
Oversight Staff List |
 |
INL Oversight Program:
Guide to Radiation Doses and
Limits
|
| Average
radiation doses for the US public |
Calculate
your dose |
•Average
Dose to US public from all sources 360 mrem/year
•Average
Dose to US Public from natural sources 300 mrem/year
•Average
Dose to US Public from medical sources 53 mrem/year
•Average
dose to US Public from weapons fallout <1 mrem/year
•Average
Dose to US Public from nuclear power <0.1 mrem/year |
Estimate your annual radiation
dose using Oversight's dose calculator.
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Source:
Idaho
State University
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| Radiation Doses |
| |
From
things around us |
|
total
dose limit...
Public:
continuous
exposure....
100 mrem
Public:
infrequent
exposure....
500 mrem
air
emissions...
One
INEEL
facility.........
0.1 mrem
All
INEEL facilities
combined....
10 mrem
Non-INEEL
industrial
facility........
10 mrem
drinking
water...
Radium........
20 mrem
Radon..........
8 mrem
Beta
& gamma
emitters.......
4 mrem
Exposure
to radiation from radon and radium is considered part of your
background dose.
occupational...
Radiation
worker.....
5,000 mrem
Pregnant
radiation
worker.....
500 mrem
Occupational
limits are above and beyond background. So a worker in a nuclear
facility can receive 5,000 mrem from his job and the background
dose that is normal for where he lives.
All of these dose limits are for annual (one year) exposure,
and are above and beyond background dose. |
|
Foods that are rich in potassium, like fruits,
beans and lentils, vegetables, and some whole grains, expose
us to radiation as potassium decays. Less than one quarter of
one percent of the potassium in foods we eat is radioactive.
The food we eat exposes us to about 40 millirem of radiation
each year. |
| If you live near a nuclear power plant, you'll
receive about .009 millirem of radiation each year. |
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An
x-ray machine uses radiation to look inside your body. Your
dose depends on what part of your body is x-rayed, how many
are taken, and the condition of the x-ray machine. A dental
x-ray can expose you to levels as low as 2 to 3 millirem or
as high as 25-35 millirem. |
An
x-ray technician works with x-ray machines every day, resulting
in exposure to about 500 millirem of radiation each year.
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The standards say that a nuclear plant worker
can receive up to 5,000 millirem each year, but a Nuclear Regulatory
Commission report says the average exposure for a nuclear power
plant worker is 240 millirem per year. |
| Smoke detectors save
lives. They also expose us to radiation because they contain
a tiny amount of americium, a man-made radioactive element.
When smoke blocks the radiation emitted by the americium, a
sensor sounds the alarm. A smoke detector exposes us to less
than a millirem of radiation each year. |
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|
| From
things we do |
|
Smoking
1½ packs a day can result in exposure to 1,300 millirem of
radiation per year. Tobacco has a high concentration of polonium-210,
a naturally occurring radioactive element.
Flying in an airplane reduces the thickness of atmosphere shielding
you from cosmic sources of radiation, including our sun and cosmic
rays. You receive about 1 millirem of radiation for each 1,000 miles
you fly. If you flew in the Space Shuttle, you'd receive more radiation:
between 433 millirem and 7,864 millirem depending on the duration
of your mission. |
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| From
jobs |
|
A
miner works underground, closer to the elements that decay under
the earth's surface. A uranium miner, because he's mining a radioactive
element, may receive upwards of 300 millirem per year.
A member
of an airline crew receives about 200 millirem a year on the job.
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| Radiation Doses from
Specific Sources |
| Inside
your house |
| Natural gas stoves and heaters
|
6 to 9 mrem/year
Lawrence
Berkeley Laboratory
9 mrem/year
Idaho
State University |
| Ionization smoke detector |
0.008
mrem/year
Environmental
Protection Agency
1 mrem/year
Lawrence
Berkeley Laboratory
Essentially zero Uranium
Information Centre, Australia
World
Nuclear Association |
| Radium dial alarm clock |
7
to 9 mrem/year
Lawrence
Berkeley Laboratory
6 mrem/year (wristwatch)
Idaho
State University |
| Sleeping next to someone for 8 hours |
2
mrem/year
PBS
Frontline |
|
Smoking
|
280
millirem
Princeton
University
1,300 mrem/year
NCRP
Report No. 93, page 32. [1]
8,000 millirem/year, 1 1/2 packs day
Lawrence
Berkeley Laboratory
The yearly radiation dose to the bronchial epithelium for
a person who smokes 1.5 packs of cigarettes is equivalent
to about 1,500 chest x-rays. Action
on Smoking and Health |
| Medical
|
| Chest x-ray |
25
mrem
Lawrence
Berkeley Laboratory
|
| Dental x-ray |
25-35
mrem/occurrence
Lawrence
Berkeley Laboratory
2 or 3 mrem/occurrence
Idaho
State University Radiation Information Network
|
| Diagnostic X-ray |
39
mrem/occurrence
Princeton
University
|
| GI series or cardiac catheterization |
2,000 to 10,000 mrem/occurrence
Lawrence
Berkeley Laboratory |
| Nuclear medicine |
14 mrem/procedure
Lawrence
Berkeley Laboratory |
| What
you do |
| Airline
crew. "Pilots flying high-altitude, high-latitude routes
do receive exposures that put them in the top five percent
of all radiation workers when ranked by dose."
Health
Physics Society
|
200
mrem/year
NASA
Space Radiation Analysis Group
Up to 500 mrem/year
Uranium
Information Centre, Australia
900 mrem/year for airline crew flying the New York - Tokyo
polar route.
Uranium
Information Centre, Australia |
| Astronaut |
1,500
mrem/month
The
Why Files
•Shuttle
(Average Skin Dose) ~433 mrem/mission
•Apollo
14 (Highest Skin Dose) 1,400 mrem/mission
•Skylab
4 (Highest Skin Dose) 17,800 mrem/mission
•Shuttle
(Highest Skin Dose) 7,864 mrem/mission
•(Houston
Background 100 mrem/year)
NASA
Space Radiation Analysis Group |
| Nuclear plant worker |
180 mrem/year
Health
Physics Society
240 mrem/year U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission report NUREG-0713,
Occupational Radiation Exposure at Commercial Nuclear Power
Reactor sand Other Facilities, 2000, Thirty-third Annual
Report |
| Uranium miner |
250 mrem/year
Uranium
Information Centre, Australia
300-2000 mrem/year for underground miners
100-500 mrem/year for open pit miners
Association
for Progressive Communications, the Netherlands
61 mrem/year for underground miners
26 mrem/year for open pit miners
NCRP
Report No. 93 |
| Working in the U.S. Capitol Building |
"This
building is so radioactive, due to the high uranium content
in its granite walls, it could never be licensed as a nuclear
power reactor site."
PBS
Frontline |
| X-ray technician |
500 mrem
Health
Physics Society |
| Travel
|
| Frequent flyers. Radiation dose rate doubles
with each 2 km increase in altitude. |
1
mrem per 1000 miles
PBS
Frontline |
| Just
hanging out |
| Sitting on a park bench as a truck carrying
nuclear waste passes by. |
<0.1
mrem
Waste
Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) Web site Fact Sheet (pdf) |
| What
you eat |
| Foods
containing potassium-40 and
carbon-14.
A small fraction of potassium atoms (0.0118 percent according
to NCRP Report 93) exist in the form of radioactive potassium-40.
Eating potassium-rich foods exposes us to the radiation released
as potassium-40 decays. [2] |
40
mrem/year
Princeton
University
|
| What
you wear |
Radium wrist watch
Tritium wrist watch |
3 mrem
0.6 mrem
Lawrence
Berkeley Laboratory |
| Where
you live |
| Air.
"Sixty-eight percent of our exposure to natural sources
of radiation usually comes from radon.a colorless, tasteless,
and odorless gas that comes from the decay of uranium found
in nearly all soils."
U.S.
EPA |
200 mrem
NCRP
Report 93
Radon, 200 millirem average for U.S.
Lawrence
Berkeley Laboratory |
| Altitude. Air provides shielding from cosmic
radiation, so the higher you live, the more cosmic radiation
you receive. |
Sea
level: 24 mrem/year
Denver (1 mile above sea level): 50 mrem/year
Leadville , Colorado (10,200 feet): 125 mrem/year
NCRP Report 94
Average annual cosmic dose: 29 mrem/year
Princeton
University |
| Atlantic coast terrestrial radiation (radiation
from the earth itself) |
16 mrem/year
Idaho
State University |
| Rocky Mountains terrestrial radiation |
40 mrem/year
Idaho
State University |
| Building materials: masonry |
7 mrem
Lawrence
Berkeley Laboratory |
| Living near a nuclear plant |
.009
mrem/year
PBS
Frontline |
| Living within 50 miles of a coal-fired power
plant |
03
mrem/year
(The dose comes from thorium and uranium in coal.)
PBS
Frontline |
|
| [1]
The National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP)
seeks to formulate and widely disseminate information, guidance and
recommendations on radiation protection and measurements which represent
the consensus of leading scientific thinking. The NCRP is a nongovernmental,
not-for-profit, public service organization and has status as an educational
and scientific body which is tax exempt [under provision 501(c)(3)
of the Internal Revenue Code]. |
| [2]
Potassium-rich food include: "dried beans, lentils and peas;
fruit juices and fresh fruits, especially apricots, bananas, cherries,
cantaloupes, honeydews, kiwi, mangoes, nectarines, oranges, peaches,
raspberries and tangerines; milk and yogurt; fresh vegetables, especially
artichokes, bamboo shoots, bean sprouts, broccoli, Brussels sprouts,
cabbage, carrots, celery, collards, corn, mushrooms, parsley, parsnips,
plantains, potatoes, pumpkins, seaweed, spinach, tomatoes, turnips,
water chestnuts and squashes; and whole grains like rye, barley, buckwheat,
wheat bran and whole-grain breads." Intellihealth.com
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