What are some of the most common exposures of/to radiation?
| Gastrointestinal series (upper & lower) Cigarette Smoking (average - several packs/day) CT Scan (head & body) Nuclear medicine examination of the brain Average annual background dose to humans Nuclear medicine examination of the thyroid Barium Enema Upper gastrointestinal tract series Radon in average household Dose to members of airline crews Nuclear medicine examination of the lung Computerized tomography of the head Plutonium-powered pacemaker Natural radioactivity in your body (120,000 pCi/L) Cosmic radiation Mammogram Smoking Cigarettes (1 cigarette/day) Consumer products Using natural gas in the home To spouses of recipients of certain cardiac pacemakers Chest X-ray Foods grown on lands (where phosphate fertilizers are used) Road construction material Dental X-ray The use of gas mantles Domestic water supplies Living near a nuclear power station Air travel (every 2006 miles) (Cross-country flight) Television receivers Eating one-half pound of Brazil nuts Combustible fuels (i.e.-coal, natural gas, liquefied petroleum) Drinking a quart of Gatorade each week Sleeping with one's spouse (or "significant other") | → → → → → → → → → → → → → → → → → → → → → → → → → → → → → → → → → → | 1,400 millirem per exam 1,300 millirem per year 1,100 millirem per exam 650 millirem per exam 620 millirem per year 509 millirem per exam 405 millirem per exam 245 millirem per exam 200 millirem per year 170 millirem per year 150 millirem per exam 110 millirem per exam 100 millirem per year 40 millirem per year 31 millirem per year 30 millirem per exam 15 to 20 millirem per year 11 millirem per year 9 millirem per year 7.5 millirem per year 6-8 millirem per exam 5 millirem per year 4 millirem per year 3 millirem per exam 2 millirem per year 1 to 6 millirem per year 1 millirem per year 1 millirem per trip 2 millirem per trip 1 millirem per year 0.5 millirem per bag 0.3 millirem per year 0.2 millirem per year 0.1 millirem per year |
Sources:
- U.S. DOE Oak Ridge
- 2004 DOE Annual Site Environmental Report Summary
| Compact fluorescent light bulb (Krypton-85) Salt Substitute Airborne radioactivity from nuclear power plants Common lawn & garden fertilizer Loose leaf of spinach Bananas Waterborne radioactivity from nuclear power plants | → → → → → → → | 15,000 p/Ci per year 12,400 p/Ci per teaspoon 1550 p/Ci per year 130 to 50 p/Ci per 50-lb. bag 18 p/Ci per salad 14 p/Ci per banana 10.6 p/Ci per year |
Sources
- KAPL Analysis, 2000
- NCRP Report # 95, Radiation Exposure from Consumer Products and Miscellaneous Sources, 1987
- U.S. NRC Report NUREG/CR-2907, Vol. 14, Annual Report 1993
Most radiation comes to us from the sun and from cosmic radiation - so that people at higher elevations like Colorado and adjacent Rocky Mountain States receive more than those who live at sea level. However, a lot of radiation also comes from the soil and rocks around us. Granite and marble have background levels of radioactivity. A relatively small additional amount comes from our man-made technology.
Source:
- American Nuclear Society http://www.aboutnuclear.org/view.cgi?fC=Radiation_and_Radioactivity, Sources_of_Radiation
Is a radiation dose of 620 millirem (or 0.62 Rem) in a year harmful?
No. No effects have ever been observed at doses below 5,000 millirem (5 Rem) delivered over a one-year period. In fact, effects seen when humans are exposed to 100,000 millirem (100 Rem) over a short time period are temporary and reversible. It takes a short-term dose of well over 500,000 millirem (500 Rem) to cause a fatality.
For more information on radiation and DHEC's role in response, contact:
Mary Nguyen Bright
Public Information Director
S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control
Nuclear Response and Emergency Environmental Surveillance
2600 Bull Street
Columbia, South Carolina 29201
brightmn@dhec.sc.gov
(803) 896-4099 or 1-800-476-9677