Radiation exposure, civilization-related

scroll

The majority of civilization-related radiation exposure is caused by medical x-ray applications for diagnostic purposes. . Including the dose from nuclear medicine the resulting average effective dose of the population amounts in Germany to 1.8 mSv per year. A further contribution to the radiation dose entails the still existing effects of above-ground nuclear weapon tests. The radiation dose resulting from global fallout in the atmosphere is decreasing since the suspension of the nuclear weapon tests. In the mid-sixties, it amounted to up to 0.2 mSv/year, presently the exposure is less than 0.01 mSv/year. Air traffic, industrial radiation applications, TV and luminous dials of watches contribute about 0.02 mSv per year to the annual effective dose. The additional radiation dose on a flight Frankfurt - New York - Frankfurt amounts to approx. 0.1 mSv. The average dose due to the peaceful use of nuclear energy for the inhabitants in the vicinity of 3 km around a nuclear power plant due to the discharge of radioactive substances with the exhaust air is less than 0.0003 mSv/year. The mean value of the total civilization-related radiation exposure in Germany amounts to about 1.9 mSv annually.

Cause for radiation dose	Effective dose in mSv/year
	Mean value for the population	Range of values for individual persons
Medicine	1.8	0.01 to 30
Increase of natural dose due to industrial activity	0.01	0.1 to 2
Chernobyl accident	0.01	0.005 to 0.04
Nuclear weapon tests	0.005	0.002 to 0.01
Flights	0.005	0.01 to 5
Industrial products	0.001	0.1 to 2
Fossil energy carriers	0.001	0.001 to 0.01
Nuclear power plants	0.001	0.001 to 0.01
occupational exposed persons	0.3	0.1 to 15
Total	1.8

Civilization-related radiation exposure in Germany, 2005

back