Calculate Your Dose

Despite nuclear engineers discussing that nuclear power plants result in very small doses to the public, it's better to show than to tell.

First: Calculate dose due to where I live:

1.     Cosmic radiation is unavoidable

2.     I live less than 100 ft above sea level

3.     Florida is on the Gulf Coast

4.     I live in a concrete building

Second: Dose to what I eat, drink, and breathe

1.     Radiation in your body (240 mrem)*

2.     From food and water (40 mrem)

3.     From radon in the air (200 mrem)

Third: Dose to other sources

1. Weapons test fallout (1 mrem)**
2. Miles of travel by jet plane annually: I’m in a long distance relationship and I have a lot of family abroad so I probably travel around 15,000-20,000 miles.
3. I also have to have my luggage inspected at airports (using typical x-ray machine) (0.002 mrem)
4. I watch Watch TV (1 mrem) **
5.  I use a video display terminal (1 mrem) **
6.  I have a smoke detector (0.008 mrem)
7. There is a coal-fired electrical utility plant within 50 miles of my apartment in Gainesville (0.03 mrem)

Before I tell you my annual dose, let me point out that you get 3 times as much radiation per year from living next to a coal plant than a nuclear plant. Even then, a coal plant will give you a dose of 0.03 mrem. The average american is expected to get about 350 mrem a year and 0.03 mrem is insignificant to your total dose. 

My annual dose is 320.04 mrem. Consider that I am allowed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to get up to 5,000 mrem more per year without worrying about increasing my cancer risk. Even then, the company I will be working for next year only allows me to get 1,000 mrem more. Calculate your own dose and let me know how it goes!

*This is the annual dose average.

**The value is actually less than 1.