Calculate Your Radiation Dose
How to use this calculator
Use the calculator below to estimate your yearly dose
doseDose is defined as the amount of radiation or energy absorbed by a person's body. from the most significant sources of ionizing radiationionizing radiationRadiation with so much energy it can knock electrons out of atoms. Ionizing radiation can affect the atoms in living things, so it poses a health risk by damaging tissue and DNA in genes.. Estimates are given in milliremmilliremThe millirem is the U.S. unit used to measure effective dose. One millirem equals 0.001 rem. The international unit is milliSievert (mSv). (mrem)mremone thousandth of a rem, the U.S. unit for effective dose. Effective dose is a measure of the amount of radiation absorbed by a person that accounts for the type of radiation received and the effects on particular organs. (The corresponding international unit for effective dose is the millisievert (mSv).)
According to the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP), the average yearly radiation dose per person in the U.S. is 620 mrem.
Directions
- Enter values or select entries where options are provided. Some entries for the yearly dose calculator are already filled in.
More Info
- Medical
- Doses from Medical Radiation Sources (Health Physics Society)
- Medical X-ray Imaging (U.S. Food and Drug Administration)
- Ionizing Radiation and Diagnostic Examinations (U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
- Background Radiation
- RadTown USA (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency)
- Natural Background Sources (U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission)
- Radiation Basics (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency)
- Travel-Related Sources
- Frequently Asked Questions on Cabinet X-ray Systems (U.S. Food and Drug Administration)
- Radiation and Airport Security Scanning (RadTown, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency)
- Other Sources
- Radiation in Tobacco (RadTown, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency)
- Cigarette Smoking and Radiation (U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
- Radioactive Fallout from Global Weapons Testing (U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
- Americium in Smoke Detectors (RadTown, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency)
- Radiation Sources and Doses (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency)
- Radon
- Radon (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency)
- Map of Radon Zones (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency)
- A Citizen’s Guide to Radon (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency)
Notes
- Radiation dose is expressed in a unit called millirem (mrem). In the United States, the average person is exposed to an effective dose equivalent of approximately 620 mrem (whole-body exposure) per year from all sources (National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP) Report No.160) Exit.
- Current science suggests there is some cancer risk from any exposure to radiation. However, it is not possible to tell whether a particular cancer was caused by very low doses of radiation or by something else.
- To learn more about exposure pathways and how radiation affects the body, see our Radiation Health Effects page.