It’s often said that radiation is natural, and that we are exposed to increased radiation just by flying in airplanes and sitting in the dentists chair. To put these sorts of statements into perspective, the Guardian newspaper created this table explaining effects of various levels of radiation damage, expressed in millisieverts.
Event | Radiation reading, millisievert (mSv) |
Single dose, fatal within weeks | 10,000 |
Typical dosage recorded in those Chernobyl workers who died within a month | 6,000 |
Single dose which would kill half of those exposed to it within a month | 5,000 |
Single dose which would cause radiation sickness, including nausea, lower white blood cell count. Not fatal | 1,000 |
Accumulated dosage estimated to cause a fatal cancer many years later in 5% of people | 1,000 |
Max radiation levels recorded at Fukushima plant (Oct. 2015), per hour | 400 |
Exposure of Chernobyl residents who were relocated after the blast in 1986 | 350 |
Recommended limit for radiation workers every five years | 100 |
Lowest annual dose at which any increase in cancer is clearly evident | 100 |
CT scan: heart | 16 |
CT scan: abdomen & pelvis | 15 |
Dose in full-body CT scan | 10 |
Airline crew flying New York to Tokyo polar route, annual exposure | 9 |
Natural radiation we’re all exposed to, per year | 2 |
CT scan: head | 2 |
Spine x-ray | 1.5 |
Radiation per hour detected at Fukushimia site, 12 March | 1.015 |
Mammogram breast x-ray | 0.4 |
Chest x-ray | 0.1 |
Dental x-ray | 0.005 |