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Reference Directory

Common Radiation Exposures

Building Materials (average annual dose)

  • Brick – 7 millirem
  • Concrete – 7 millirem
  • Masonry – 13 millirem
  • Stone – 10 millirem
  • Wood – 4 millirem

Consumer Products (average annual dose)

  • Airport luggage inspection systems – 0.0003 millirem
  • Burning coal as fuel – 0.03 to 0.3 millirem
  • Cardiac Pacemaker user – 100 millirem
  • Cardiac Pacemaker spouse – 7.5 millirem
  • Dental Prostheses – 0.01 millirem
  • Gas mantle usage (indoor residential) – 4 millirem
  • Gas mantle usage (camping) – 6 millirem
  • Highway and road construction materials – 0.08 millirem
  • Mining and agricultural products – less than 1 millirem
  • Natural gas cooking ranges – 0.2 millirem
  • Natural gas heaters – 0.1 millirem
  • Opthalmic glass (eye dose from eyepieces) – less than 0.33 millirem (up to 4,000 millirem to the cornea of maximially-exposed)
  • Opthalmic glass (instruments) – less than 0.1 millirem
  • Radioluminescent watches and clocks – 0.001 to 0.005 millirem
  • Smoke detector use – 0.009 millirem
  • Television receivers – much less than 1 millirem
  • Tobacco products – 1,300 millirem
  • Tungsten welding rod usage – 0.02 millirem
  • Video display terminals – much less than 1 millirem

Depleted Uranium Slab

  • Skin Dose – 200 to 230 mrad per hour
  • Contact Gamma Dose – 4 to 7 mR per hour
  • Ambient Gamma Dose – Trivial

Food and Drink

  • Brazil nuts (0.5 pound) – 0.5 millirem
  • Gatorade™ (quart/week) – 0.2 millirem
  • Domestic water supplies – 1 to 6 millirem per year

Industrial Facilities (average annual dose to maximally-exposed member of the public)

  • Accelerator facilities – 0.0001 millirem
  • Aluminum reduction plants (kidney dose) – 1.2 millirem
  • Copper smelters (lung dose) – 0.2 millirem
  • Department of Energy facilities – 50 millirem
  • Lead smelters (lung dose) – 5 millirem
  • Manufacturers – 0.2 millirem
  • Radiopharmaceutical suppliers (thyroid dose) – 0.3 millirem
  • Research and test reactors – 1 millirem
  • U. S. Navy shipyards – 0.02 millirem
  • Zinc smelters (bone surface dose) – 0.02 millirem

Natural Background (total dose per year)

  • Cosmic radiation – 27 mrem
  • Cosmogenic radionuclides – 1 millirem
  • Inhaled radioactivity – 200 millirem
  • Radioactivity in the body – 40 millirem
  • Terrestrial radiation – 28 mrem

Nuclear Fuel Cycle Activities (average annual dose to maximally-exposed member of the public)

  • Boiling water reactor operations – 0.1 millirem
  • Fuel fabrication – 0.7 millirem
  • Low-level waste storage – less than 1 millirem
  • Open pit uranium mining – 26 millirem
  • Pressurized water reactor operations – 0.6 millirem
  • Underground uranium mining – 61 millirem

Nuclear Medicine Procedures (effective dose, typical administration)

  • Brain (Tc-99m DTPA) – 650 millirem
  • Brain (O-15 water) – 170 millirem
  • Brain (Tc-99m HMPAO) – 690 millirem
  • Hepatobiliary (Tc-99m SCO) – 370 millirem
  • Bone (Tc-99m MDP) – 440 millirem
  • Lung Perfusion/Ventilation (Tc-99m MAA and Xe-133) – 150 millirem
  • Kidney (Tc-99m DTPA) – 310 millirem
  • Kidney (Tc-99m MAG3) – 520 millirem
  • Tumor (Ga-67) – 1,220 millirem
  • Heart (Tc-99m sestimibi) – 890 millirem
  • Heart (Tc-99m pertechnetate) – 1,440 millirem
  • Heart (Tl-201 chloride) – 1,700 millirem
  • PET procedures (F-18 FDG) – 700 millirem

Nuclear Weapons Testing through 1970 (average total dose)

  • External dose – 75 microrem
  • Internal dose – 177 (committed dose through the year 2000)

Radiographic Procedures (approximate dose per procedure)

  • Barium enema (10 images) – 700 millirem
  • Chest – 10 millirem
  • CT (scout scan) – 111 millirem
  • CT (body scan) – 1,000 to 4,000 millirem
  • CT (head scan) – 4,000 to 6,000 millirem
  • Dental x-ray (film imaging) – 9 millirem
  • Dental x-ray (digital imaging) – 3 millirem
  • Extremities (arms, legs) – 1 millirem
  • Hip – 83 millirem
  • Intravenous Pyelogram – 158 millirem
  • Lumbar spine – 127 millirem
  • Skull – 22 millirem
  • Upper GI series – 244 millirem

Transportation of Radioactive Materials (average annual dose)

  • Air (pilots) – 0.07 millirem (excluding cosmic exposure component)
  • Air (attendants) – 3.5 millirem (excluding cosmic exposure component)
  • Air (passengers) – 0.23 millirem (excluding cosmic exposure component)
  • Highway – 70 millirem (hourly dose at 3 ft from the package)
  • Other (unspecified) – 24 millirem (hourly dose at 3 ft from the package)
  • Rail – 74 millirem (hourly dose at 3 ft from the package)

X-ray Films (single, effective dose)

  • Skull (PA or AP) – 3 millirem
  • Skull (lateral) – 1 millirem
  • Chest (PA) – 2 millirem
  • chest (lateral) – 4 millirem
  • chest (PA and lateral) – 6 millirem
  • Thoracic spine (AP) – 40 millirem
  • Thoracic spine (lateral) – 30 millirem
  • Lumbar spine (AP) – 70 millirem
  • Lumbar spine (lateral) – 30 millirem
  • Abdomen – 70 millirem
  • Pelvis (AP) – 70 millirem
  • Bitewing dental film – 0.4 millirem
  • Limbs and joints – 6 millirem
  • Intravenous Pyelogram (kidneys, 6 films) – 250 millirem
  • Barium swallow (24 images) – 150 millirem

X-ray Procedures (effective dose)

  • Intravenous Pyelogram (kidneys, 6 films) – 250 millirem
  • Barium swallow (24 images) – 150 millirem
  • CT, head – 200 millirem
  • CT, chest – 800 millirem
  • CT, abdomen – 1,000 millirem
  • CT, pelvis – 1,000 millirem
  • PTCA (heart study) – 750 to 5,700 millirem
  • Coronary angiogram – 460 to 1,580 millirem
  • Mammogram – 13 millirem
  • Lumbar spine series – 180 millirem
  • Thoracic spine series – 140 millirem
  • Cervical spin series – 27 millirem