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Health and Medicine - What Is The Estimated Radiation Dose To Which The Average Person In The United States Is Exposed Each Year?
What is the estimated radiation dose to which the average person in the United States is exposed each year?
Radiation, which comes from a variety of sources, is measured in terms of millirems (mrems). The total average annual radiation dose per person is about 360 mrems.
Natural radiation accounts for about 82 percent of a person's yearly radiation exposure. Natural radiation comes from atoms within the Earth, as well as from cosmic rays (invisible, high-energy particles that bombard Earth from space).
In the late 1980s, radon—a colorless, odorless, and tasteless radioactive element produced by the radioactive decay of radium, thorium, or actinuim—was recognized as a significant source of natural radiation. Radon accounts for 55 percent of a person's natural radiation exposure.
Human-made sources account for about 18 percent of a person's yearly radiation dose. Examples of...
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