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Natural Radioactivity in the Body


  Small traces of many radioactive materials are present in the human body. These come mainly from radioactivity present in minute quantities in the food we eat.

The only radionuclide which gives a significant dose is tex2html_wrap_inline646 K. A person weighing tex2html_wrap_inline648 contains tex2html_wrap_inline650 of potassium, most of which is located in the muscle. About 0.01% of this is tex2html_wrap_inline646 K  and this delivers an equivalent dose of about tex2html_wrap_inline654 a year. tex2html_wrap_inline656 C  which is produced through nuclear transmutation  by cosmic rays  in the upper atmosphere, delivers about tex2html_wrap_inline658 a year.



Noel Giffin
Tue Feb 6 14:41:11 PST 1996