Discovery Science explains radiation exposure in planes

I was watching discovery channel... this section I found interesting about exposure limits and wanted to double check the numbers...

From : http://nuclearsafety.gc.ca/eng/resources/radiation/introduction-to-radiation/radiation-doses.cfm

The effective dose limits for a nuclear energy worker is set at 50 mSv in any one year

So this is 50 milli Sievert per year... or 50/365 = 137 micro Sievert / day or 137/24 = 5 uSv/hr.

Normal background around my place in Quebec, north of Montreal is 0.50 uSv/hr.

So this limit is 10x the normal background I get.

But to compare with what you get in a plane... let's take as an example the short trip to Toronto I took... http://radio-activity-studies.blogspot.ca/2013/01/radiation-durant-un-voyage-en-avion.html

While cruising at 35,000 feet you get exposed to 3.5uSv/hr or 7x the background.

So to get to 50,000 uSv (50mSv), you would need to spend 595 days in the air at the elevation.

So the numbers 321 days is a bit low, but that depends on the background, elevation and which regulation they used to calculate.  The more elevation you get, the higher the radiation dose you get.

Bottom line, flying is safer than working in a nuclear power plant (if exposed to the limit, which never happens)

My latest nuclear and radiation related twitter post

Study: #Cancer rate of children around #nuclear power plant, nothing to worry about, contrary to anti nuclear fears. http://t.co/WSep4sAYyM

— Simon Filiatrault (@SimonFili) September 4, 2013

Do Animals in Chernobyl’s Fallout Zone Glow? #radiation http://t.co/33XVQJJJE2

— Simon Filiatrault (@SimonFili) August 28, 2013

Did you know that #radiation is used to clean exhaust gases from #coal fire plant! And many other uses http://t.co/XBFNZCsrmn

— Simon Filiatrault (@SimonFili) August 3, 2013

The importance of adaptive response in #cancer prevention and therapy. #lnt #hormesis #radiation http://t.co/p3tYa0gUQE

— Simon Filiatrault (@SimonFili) August 1, 2013

#Nuclear Power Economics http://t.co/jLY71ZBYd3 Lots of common sense that we don't see a lot on the nuclear community.

— Simon Filiatrault (@SimonFili) July 28, 2013

Fukushima contaminated water, some calculation

From this tweet:

Tepco measures Tritium concentration at 290Bq/L in ground water at a location near Fukushima-Daiichi. Nearby, on July 18, it was 1,700Bq/L.
— NucNet Nuclear News (@NucNetupdates) July 25, 2013

Using numbers from this WHO page. You can calculate that for every Becquerel (Bq) of water contaminated with Tritium, you will get 1.8E-8 mSv of exposure for an adult.

1.8E-8 mSv/Bq for tritium

Thus, we can calculate for worst case of 1,700 Bq/L.  This will give us 1700Bq * 1.8E-8 = 30,3E-6 mSv per liter consumed by 1 adult.

Let assume now that this adult will drink 2 liters of this water at this concentration every week for 1 year.  Which is practically impossible, but just for calculating a worst case scenario.

This give us: 30E-6 mSv/L * 2 L/week * 52 weeks/year =  0,00312 mSv/year or 3,12 uSv/year.

Is this a big radiation exposure?

You can compare this to the exposure I measured while taking is trip from Montreal to Toronto
http://radio-activity-studies.blogspot.ca/2013/01/radiation-durant-un-voyage-en-avion.html
Where I was exposed for a less that 1 hour to 350uR/hr or 3.5uSv/hr.

Conclusion is, you will be exposed to more radiation on a typical plane trip than drinking 2 liters per week for 1 years of Fukushima Tritium contaminated water.

Did I made a mistake on my calculation?  Let me know.

Nice demo of radioactive stuff - Démonstration de produit radioactif

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Useful Mutants, Bred With Radiation ! - Mutants utiles, crée par rayonnement!

Saviez-vous que de nombreuses variétés de nourriture ont été créés avec l'aide de rayonnement, par mutation génétique!

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/28/science/28crop.html?_r=0&src=tp&pagewanted=print

Did you know that many varieties of food were created with the help of radiation, by genetic mutation!

Irradiated food - Nourriture irradié

Un ami à acheté ce produit pour chien qui contient du poulet irradié (Traitées par radiation).  J'ai donc testé pour voir si un niveau détectable de radiation était présent.

A friend bought this product for dogs that contains irradiated chicken (Treated by radiation). So I tried to see if a detectable level of radiation was present.

See a difference? voyez vous une différence?

Radioactive chips - Croustilles Radioactive

Je savais que les croustilles était radioactive a cause du potassium 40, mais je ne me doutais pas que c'était plus que les bananes et que ça pouvait varier autant d'une marque à une autre.  J'imagine que ça dépend de la provenance des pommes de terres ainsi que de l'épaisseur de la coupe.  Miss Vickie's étant plus épaisse, ça me semble expliquer la plus forte dose.

I knew that chips were radioactive because of potassium 40, but I had no idea that it was more than bananas and it could vary as much from one brand to another. I guess it depends on the origin of potatoes as well as the thickness of the cut. Miss Vickie's being thicker seems to explain the higher dose.