Randall Munroe's Radiation Dose Chart
(presented in units of time of exposure to background radiation)
| Description | Dose |
|---|---|
| Sleeping next to someone | 7m |
| Living within 50 miles of a nuclear power plant for a year | 13m |
| Eating one banana | 15m |
| Living within 50 miles of a coal power plant for a year | 45m |
| Arm x-ray | 2h30m |
| Using a CRT monitor for a year | 2h30m |
| Extra dose for spending one day in an area with higher-than-average background radiation | 3h |
| Dental x-ray | 12h |
| Background radiation received by one person over one normal day | 1d |
| Chest x-ray | 2d |
| EPA yearly release target for a nuclear power plant | 3d |
| Airplane flight from New York to LA | 4d |
| Extra dose to Tokyo in weeks following Fukushima accident | 4d |
| Living in a stone, brick, or concrete building for a year | 7d |
| Average total dose from the Three Mile Island accident to someone living within 10 miles | 8d |
| Approximate total dose received at Fukushima town hall over two weeks following accident | 10d |
| EPA yearly release limit for a nuclear power plant | 25d |
| Yearly dose from natural potassium in the body | 6w |
| Mammogram | 6w |
| Maximum external dose from Three Mile Island accident | 14w |
| Typical dose over two weeks in Fukushima Exclusion Zone | 14w |
| EPA yearly limit on radiation exposure to a single member of the public | 100d |
| Head CT scan | 7mo |
| Normal yearly background dose | 1y |
| Dose from spending an hour on the grounds at the Chernobyl plant in 2010 | 20mo |
| Chest CT scan | 2y |
| Approximate total dose at one station at the northwest edge of the Fukushima Exclusion Zone | 11y |
| Maximum yearly dose permitted for US radiation workers | 14y |
| Lowest one-year dose clearly linked to increased cancer risk | 28y |
| EPA dose limit for emergency workers protecting valuable property | 28y |
| Dose received by two Fukushima plant workers | 50y |
| EPA dose limit for emergency workers in lifesaving operations | 70y |
| Dose causing symptoms of radiation poisoning if received in a short time | 100y |
| Severe radiation poisoning, in some cases fatal | 500y |
| Usually fatal radiation poisoning; survival occasionally possible with prompt treatment | 1000y |
| Fatal dose, even with treatment | 2000y |
| Ten minutes next to Chernobyl reactor core after explosion and meltdown | 12000y |
(This table is meant to make gauging the severity of different events easy; in that spirit, presentation and simplicity beat accuracy)