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Understanding Radiation Exposure and Effects on Health

Learn about ionizing radiation, roentgen units, measurement in rems, sources of exposure, and potential health effects. Calculate your annual radiation dose and understand recommended limits.

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Understanding Radiation Exposure and Effects on Health

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  1. Radiation and Radiation Exposure

  2. Radiation • Radiation can be either nonionizing or ionizing • Ionization occurs when nuclear radiation removes electrons from atoms or molecules • Ionization can damage living tissue • The roentgen (R) is a unit used to measure nuclear radiation exposure; it is equal to the amount of gamma and X ray radiation that produces 2x109 ion pairs when it passes through 1 cm3 of dry air

  3. Ionizing Radiation • Energy from ionizing radiation ejects electrons from atoms and molecules, forming molecular fragments and ions. These fragments and ions can be very reactive. • If these fragments are formed within a living organism, they can disrupt normal cellular chemistry and cause serious damage.

  4. Radiation Exposure • Radiation damage to human tissue is measured in rems (roentgen equivalent man) • A rem is a unit used to measure the dose of any type of ionizing radiation that factors in the effect that the radiation has on human tissue • Normal human exposures are so small that dosage is measured in millirems or 1/1000ths of a rem.

  5. How much have you been exposed to this past year? • All humans are exposed to radiation throughout the year. Many factors play a role in how much radiation you are exposed to. You can make an estimate on how much ionizing radiation you are exposed. • Let’s answer the following questions:

  6. 1. Where you live • Cosmic radiation exposure • Your exposure depends on elevation. These are annual doses. • Sea level 26 mrem • 0-1000 feet 28 mrem • 1000-2000 feet 31 mrem • 2000-3000 feet 35 mrem • 3000-4000 feet 41 mrem • 4000-5000 feet 47 mrem

  7. Terrestrial Radiation • You live in California 30 mrem

  8. House Construction • If you live in a stone, adobe, brick or concrete building 7 mrem

  9. Food, water and air • From food 40 mrem • From air 200 mrem

  10. How you live • Weapons test fallout 1 mrem • Travel by jet aircraft (per hour) 0.5 mrem • If you have porcelain crowns or teeth 0.07 mrem • If you wear a glow-in-the-dark watch 0.06 mrem • Airport security walk-through 0.002 mrem • Watch TV? 1 mrem • Other video display 1 mrem • House with smoke detector 0.008 mrem

  11. Medical Use • X-Rays • Dental 1 mrem • Chest 1 mrem • Pelvis/Hip 65 mrem • Skull/Neck 20 mrem • Extremity 1 mrem • Barium enema 405 mrem • Upper GI 245 mrem • CT Scan(head and body) 110 mrem • Nuclear Medicine (thyroid scan) 14 mrem

  12. Add up everything • Your annual radiation dose is………. • The average dose in the U.S. is 360 mrem/year • The recommended limit is 500 mrem/year

  13. What’s bad? • 0-25 rem no immediate observable effects • 25-50 small decrease in white blood cells • 50-100 marked decrease in white blood cells – development of lesions • 100-200 radiation sickness – nausea, vomiting, hair loss. Blood cells die • 200-300 Hemorraging, ulcers, death • 300-500 Acute radiation sickness, 50% die within a few weeks • Over 700 100% die

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