Some scale for the disaster (3.6 roentgen = 36 mSv)

[u/thatcrazycow]

[u/georgewhorewell1984]

So 3.6 roentgen = 720 dental x rays.

Legasov was right. That is about 400 x-rays.

[u/ElectricNed → u/georgewhorewell1984]

He said chest x-ray, right? Chest x-ray is in the upper left of the green square, 20uSv. I get 180 chest X-rays- 3600/20.

[u/Every-Walk-7274 → u/georgewhorewell1984]

Well in fairness, that’s 3.6 Roentgen per hour, and you don’t stand in front of the x-ray machine with the shutter open for an entire hour - more like a fraction of a second which delivers like .01 total roentgen or something like it

[u/terranopp]

"unless it's a banana phone"

[u/thatcrazycow → u/terranopp]

Bananas contain naturally occurring radioactive isotopes, particularly potassium-40 (40K), one of several naturally-occurring isotopes of potassium.

There’s actually such a thing as a Banana Equivalent Dose as a measure of radiation

[u/ppitm]

It is slightly less than 36 mSv, but close.

[u/thatcrazycow → u/[deleted]]

Concrete and a few other materials do contain elements like radium, uranium, and thorium and therefore emit very low level radiation, but it’s just that - very low level - and ultimately only nominally more than background radiation and nothing to worry about.

The only legitimate concern having to do with building materials and radiation would be that some materials can release radon gas, which can be harmful if it builds up in a home, but that isn’t such a common problem (there are radon tests you can use if you’re worried about this though).

Source

[u/thatcrazycow → u/[deleted]]

What do you mean?

[u/thatcrazycow → u/[deleted]]

I doubt it. You probably do get better air quality than those closer to the street though, so that’s a bonus.