Here are approximate radiation doses associated with some common activities and situations:

The following values are approximate and are intended to illustrate the wide range of radiation doses encountered in everyday life and in unusual situations. Actual doses may vary considerably depending on the circumstances.

Activity or situation · Approximate dose (mSv) Sleeping next to another person for one night · 0.00005 Eating a banana · 0.0001 Watching TV with an old CRT monitor, one hour · 0.001 Arm X-ray · 0.001 One flight from New York to Tokyo · ~ 0.05 Living in Australia for a year · ~ 1—2 Living in the USA for a year · ~ 3 Flying regularly as an airline pilot for one year · ~ 2—5 Living for one year in an area with unusually high natural background radiation · ~ 10—20 Living for one year in some exceptionally high-background locations · > 100 Average dose received by Chernobyl recovery workers in 1986 · 175 Very high whole-body dose capable of causing severe radiation sickness · ~ 150 Extremely high, rapidly fatal whole-body dose · ~ 5,000

Here is the approximate radioactivity of some common materials and objects:

These values are approximate and are intended to illustrate the wide range of activities found in everyday materials and radioactive substances. Actual values can vary considerably depending on composition, origin and the radionuclides present.

Material or object · Approximate activity Water · ~ 15 Bq/l Coal · ~ 200 Bq/kg Brazil nuts · ~ 500 Bq/kg Tea · ~ 700 Bq/kg Coffee · ~ 1,000 Bq/kg Granite · ~ 1,000 Bq/kg Coal fly ash · ~ 1,000 Bq/kg Whisky · ~ 2,000 Bq/l Phosphate fertiliser · ~ 3,000 Bq/kg Human body (70 kg) · ~ 7,000 Bq Ionisation smoke detector containing 241Am · ~ 30,000—40,000 Bq Uranium ore · ~ 10,000—1,000,000 + Bq/kg Natural uranium · ~ 26,000,000 Bq/kg Vitrified high-level radioactive waste · 10,000,000,000, 000