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15 March 2011

How much radiation is dangerous?

Chart of the day.

By George Eaton

As I noted earlier, radiation levels at Japan’s Fukushima power station have reached 400 millisieverts (mSv) per hour. The chart below (posted by @ gakuranman) helps put this figure into perspective. A typical chest X-ray, for instance, involves exposure of about 0.05 mSv, while a stomach X-ray involves 0.6 mSv. The annual amount of natural radiation is roughly 2 mSv; the current limit for nuclear industry employees is 20 mSv per year.

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