Doses and Dose Calculations

The following FAQs have been developed by our topic editors for this category:

			Radiation Dose Units
			Relationship Between Radionuclide Gamma Emission and Exposure Rate
			What is Dose? What Units are Used for Dose?

The following HPS Web pages also address this category:

			Benefits of Medical Radiation Exposures
			Dental Patient Doses Information
			Doses from Medical Radiation Sources

The following health physics questions have been answered by an expert and approved by our editors for inclusion in our "Ask the Experts" feature. Click on the question to see the answer.

Questions in this Category Are in the Following Subcategories:
• Basic dose information, dose quantities, units
• Conversion of survey meter readings to dose
• External dose calculations
• Internal dose calculations
• Doses from medical sources
• Miscellaneous

Basic dose information, dose quantities, units
Q228	–	I need information on the CR-39 detector as used in neutron dosimetry.
Q525	–	Dose Definition
Q610	–	How to go from mAs to krad
Q932	–	Specific gamma ray constant
Q1097	–	Comparison of dose from occupational and natural exposures
Q1261	–	Use of gray rather than sievert
Q1542	–	Relationship between energy and organ absorbed dose
Q1672	–	Whole-body dose
Q1832	–	Compare x ray to NORM worker exposure
Q1928	–	Gy and rad
Q1974	–	Effective dose, etc.
Q1986	–	Reducing staff dose
Q2317	–	Data on new CT scanners
Q2819	–	Appropriate units for high doses
Q2881	–	Dpm and cpm
Q4025	–	Dose and properties of irradiated material
Q4034	–	Convert activity to dose
Q4183	–	Informed consent form
Q4405	–	Line vs point source calculations
Q4850	–	Tissue specific risk coefficient
Q4879	–	Fluoroscopy exam to shoulder
Q5483	–	Dose from silicon-32/phosphorus-32
Q5693	–	Doses to small mass from x-ray machine

Conversion of survey meter readings to dose
Q82	–	How do I convert from the dps beta reading on my GM counter to mrem/h?
Q128	–	How do I convert cpm to mrem/h?
Q236	–	How do I convert Geiger-Mueller count rates to beta dose rates?

External dose calculations
Q72	–	How do I calculate a finite cloud beta dose?
Q140	–	Can you refer me to publications dealing with biological neutron dosimetry?
Q198	–	Quality factors for complicated radiation sources
Q225	–	How do you estimate the dose rate from ⁶⁰Co?
Q335	–	Can the mass of a radioactive object impact the dose?
Q337	–	Conversion factor for cesium-137
Q342	–	DCFs for the lens of the eye
Q352	–	Weighting factor for wearing two or more dosimeters
Q380	–	Reports from Dijon, France conference
Q382	–	Inverse-square law and body surface area.
Q388	–	How do I convert dose rate to activity for radium-226 in soil?
Q445	–	How to calculate gamma ray dose in a distributed energy field
Q701	–	Formulas for calculating exposure
Q779	–	Dose from a rectangular slab
Q886	–	Dose from a rectangular source
Q984	–	Dose rate from Pu-SWG
Q990	–	Dose rate of radium-226
Q1004	–	Dosimetry in the 1950s at weapons facilities
Q1314	–	Nuclear fuel crack
Q1356	–	Radioactive materials in camera lens
Q1488	–	What is the exposure rate for a 500 mCi americium-241 source at 30 feet?
Q1540	–	Algorithms for dose and shielding calculations
Q1574	–	Hiroshima three days later
Q2258	–	Dose from external phosphorus-32 exposure
Q2536	–	Effective dose from TLD readings
Q3759	–	TLD to determine accelerator dose
Q3782	–	Gamma Dose from Immersion in Cloud or Water
Q3896	–	Inverse square law
Q3991	–	Effective dose for building materials
Q4773	–	Risk of medical exposures as a child

Internal dose calculations
Q126	–	How can I classify radionuclides by hazard?
Q144	–	How many pCi of radium-226 would equal a rem?
Q314	–	What is the radiation exposure from 5.5 pCi L^-1 of radium in well water?
Q362	–	Biological half-life of thorium-230 and thorium-232.
Q379	–	Biological half-lives of manganese and cobalt.
Q651	–	Dose from inhaling radionuclides in dust
Q709	–	Carbon-14 bioassays
Q948	–	Biological half-life
Q957	–	More information on xenon-133 and krypton-85
Q1048	–	Dose from drinking water
Q1498	–	Doses based on animal studies
Q1626	–	ALI
Q2127	–	Internal contamination with ²⁴¹Am
Q4269	–	Fetal exposure from chest fluoroscopy
Q4319	–	Dose from CT scans

Doses from medical sources
Q5306	–	Cinedefecography
Q5333	–	Pelvic dose to embryo
Q5482	–	Worried about x rays
Q5780	–	Fetal dose from multislice CT scanners
Q5885	–	Calculate CT doses without phantoms
Q5891	–	Effect of SSD on dose
Q6072	–	Nuclear medicine versus CT/x ray
Q6262	–	Correlating to skin dose
Q6269	–	Iodine-131 treatment of cat
Q6904	–	Dual-source MDCT dose
Q7265	–	Computed Tomography Dose Index (CTDI)
Q7303	–	Dose limit to thyroid

Miscellaneous
Q31	–	Dose to research organisms
Q586	–	Do dosimeter badges become radioactive?
Q1658	–	Dose to extremity from phosphorus-32
Q2435	–	CT of the chest
Q2472	–	References on internal dosimetry
Q2498	–	Concern about exposures
Q2541	–	Shielding for cobalt-60 in a pipe
Q4524	–	Pipe penetration
Q4540	–	Annual dose assessments
Q5194	–	Calculate dose-length product

The following Web sites may also be useful:

			Estimate Background Dose
			Radiation Dose Assessment Resource