Topic: Radiation Dose Chart

[rickl]

This is very cool.  From XKCD (the people that do the weird techy comics); hat tip Transterrestrial Musings.

http://xkcd.com/radiation/

[Libertas]

Whoa!  That's a busy chart.

I'm not knowledgeable enough to know for sure...but is spending a whole year on the Colorado Plateau (I'm guessing, what, the radiation is due to elevation and solar exposure?) equal the annual maximum allowable for US radiation workers?

Either way, the latter, numerically and pictorially seems an impressive amount of radiation.  Really puts the 3 Mile Island & Fukashima events in perspective though.

[rickl]

Whoa!  That's a busy chart.

I'm not knowledgeable enough to know for sure...but is spending a whole year on the Colorado Plateau (I'm guessing, what, the radiation is due to elevation and solar exposure?) equal the annual maximum allowable for US radiation workers?

If my math is right, the average daily background dose (10 µSv) + additional amount on Colorado Plateau (1.2 µSv) = 11.2 µSv.
11.2 x 365 = 4088 µSv, or 4 mSv, which is well below the 50 mSv annual limit for radiation workers.

I think the additional radiation is because of the high altitude.  The thinner atmosphere blocks less of the incoming solar radiation.  Astronauts need plenty of radiation protection because space is filled with it.

And now that I think of it, it would be nice if the chart included such things as spending a year on the ISS or walking on the moon.

[Darby]

Actually from looking at that chart, I wouldn't want to be a US radiation worker. I realize that they don't get that much radiation in an average year, that it's the maximum limit but still it's a lot. If they got the maximum annual dose over two years then they have received the minimum amount linked to increased risk of cancer. Can they even qualify for medical insurance? I'm curious to know what the average amount of radiation a person receives in a lifetime is. I'm sure it's way up there.