Quickpost: Airplanes & Radiation

When you’re flying high in a commercial airliner, you’re exposed to more radiation, because cosmic rays travel through less atmosphere before they hit a plane flying at 30000 feet. Compared to an airplane on the ground at sea level.

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This is something my cheap Geiger counter can pick up.

This is a reading in the airport:

The real-time measure is 0,15 µSv/h, the average is 0,11 µSv/h.

The total dose (accumulated radiation exposure) is 0,0 µSv, because I just reset the counter (prior to take off).

This is a reading at 30,000 altitude:

The real-time measure is 4,02 µSv/h, the average is 3,33 µSv/h.

And after one hour and 5 minutes, the total dose is 2,18 µSv.

So at least this meter is working. I can’t say how precise it is, but it does pick up radiation.

And here is the measure after landing:

The total dose is 3,63 µSv. This was a flight from Brussels to Rome:

And for the flight back to Brussels, the total dose was 4,15 µSv:

The difference between the first flight and the second flight can be a change in cosmic ray activity, but it can also be that this cheap Geiger meter is not reliable enough.

And I also left this meter switched on while it went through the X-ray baggage scanner at airport security:

The dose was 157 µSv.

Let’s compare this to exposure levels for medical purposes, to put this into perspective.

According to this Wikipedia article, a chest X-ray is equivalent to an effective dose of 0,013 mSv. That’s 13 µSv.

So a dose of 4 µSv measured during the flights between Brussels and Rome, is about 3 times less than a chest X-ray.

While the dose from the X-ray baggage scanner (157 µSv) is equivalent to 12 chest X-rays.

And there is also this information:

Cosmic ray dose rate on commercial flights varies from 1 to 10 μSv/hour, depending on altitude, position and solar sunspot phase.

According to ChatGPT:

Commercial airline pilots are classified as occupational radiation workers due to their exposure to cosmic ionizing radiation at high altitudes. The International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) recommends an annual effective dose limit of 20 millisieverts (mSv), averaged over five years, with no single year exceeding 50 mSv.

In the European Union, regulations mandate that aircrew likely to receive more than 1 mSv per year must have their exposure assessed and monitored. Employers are required to implement measures to ensure that individual doses do not exceed 6 mSv per year.

Actual radiation exposure for pilots varies based on factors such as flight altitude, duration, and routes flown. Long-haul pilots, especially those on polar routes, can receive between 4.5 and 6 mSv annually, while short-haul pilots typically receive around 2 mSv per year.

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Article Link: Quickpost: Airplanes & Radiation | Didier Stevens

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