bitmap@ucbtopaz.CC.Berkeley.ARPA (03/07/84)
From March, 1984 Science Digest (without permission) ESTIMATE YOUR ANNUAL EXPOSURE TO RADIATION Annual Dose (mrem) ------------------------------------------------------------------- *Where You Live* Location: Cosmic radiation at sea level.......................26 For your elevation (in feet)--add this number of mrem 1000-2 4000-15 7000-40 2000-5 5000-21 8000-53 3000-9 6000-29 9000-70.................................__ From the ground (dirt): U.S. average..........................26 ------------------------------------------------------------------- *What You Eat, Drink, and Breathe* Food Water U.S. average...................................24 Air Weapons-test fallout...........................................4 ------------------------------------------------------------------- *How You Live* X-ray and radiopharmaceutical diagnosis Number of chest X-rays___x10................................__ Number of lower gastrointestinal tract X-rays____x500.......__ Number of radiopharmaceutical exams___x300..................__ (average dose to U.S. population = 92 mrem) Jet plane travel: for each 2500 miles add 1 mrem..............__ TV viewing: For each hour per day___x0.15.....................__ ------------------------------------------------------------------- *How Close Do You Live to a Nuclear Plant* At site boundary: ave. number of hours per day___x0.2.........__ One mile away: ave. number of hours per day___x0.02...........__ Five miles away: ave. number of hours per day___x0.002........__ Over 5 miles away.......................None.......... ------------------------------------------------------------------- My annual dose in mrem= ___ Compare your annual dose to the U.S. annual average of 180 mrems
bitmap@ucbtopaz.CC.Berkeley.ARPA (03/15/84)
(Here's another response, from jlg@lanl-a): You left out proximity to coal powered plants and other industries that burn fossil fuels. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission recently was asked to test for radiation around such plants and thier findings were that if these plants had been nuclear they would have to be shut down. Fossil fuels (especially coal) contains trace ammounts of radio- active materials which are part of the effluent from the plants.