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) - 300 millirem
• 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 - 9 millirad
• 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

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