



Average annual radiation dose is 360 millirems per person. 300 from natural sources. Sleeping next to someone for 8 hours: 2 mrems Exposure comes from the naturally radioactive potassium in the other person's body Coal plant, living within 50 miles: .03 mrem There is much thorium and uranium in coal. Living within 50 miles of a nuclear power plant adds .009 mrem of exposure. Both figures are considered extremely low levels. Living in a masonry home: 7 mrems Stone, brick and adobe have natural radioisotopes in them. Living on the Earth: 200 mrems We are living in a sea of radon. It is made from the natural decay of uranium and thorium in the soil, left over from the creation of the solar system. Radon is a rare gas that diffuses out of soil and into the air. It contributes more than half of our background exposure. Smoking: up to 16,000 mrems The tobacco leaf acts like the absorbing surface of charcoal in a radon test kit. It collects long-lived isotopes of airborne radon, like lead-210 and polonium. Small portions of the lungs can get relatively whopping doses, compared to background levels. Porcelain teeth or crowns: tenths of a rem Uranium is often added to these dental products to increase whiteness and florescence. Air Travel: 1 mrem per 1000 miles 30,000 feet above the ground you're closer to the ionizing radiation (high-energy gammas well as particles) from the sun. Grand Central Station, NYC: 120 mrem for employees Its granite walls have a high uranium content. Brazil Nuts: This is the world's most radioactive food due to high radium concentrations 1000-times that of average foods. The US Capitol Building in Washington DC: 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. Sources: Living with Radiation, the First Hundred Years

America the Powerless

Los Alamos Science

Bluebells and Nuclear Energy



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