Most People Consider Radiation Unnatural
and irrationally fear it. The fact is that radiation is natural and is all around us all of the time. Everyone is constantly being dosed from natural and man-made exposure at the rate of about 3.6 milliSievert (360 milliRem) per year:
Radon gas: ............... 55%
Cosmic radiation: ........ 8%
Terrestial: ................... 8% (rocks, dirt, concrete)
Internal: ................... 11% (ingestion, e.g. Carbon 12)
Medical x-rays: ........ 11%
Nuclear medicine: ..... 4%
Consumer products: .. 3%
Cosmic background radiation is why people fleeing Three Mile Island by aircraft actually received more radiation than those who stayed behind.
