Natural vs Man-made Rads

[ins_...@jhunix.uucp]

I found some "radiation stats" in a booklet entitled
Nuclear Power Quick Reference II. The booklet is from
General Electric and is very pro-nuclear. Do these figures look
reasonable?

Natural Background radiation

mrem/yr , whole body

Cosmic Rays 35
Air 5
Building materials 34
Food 25
Ground 11
_______________
110 mrem

Man Made radiation

dose rate

Coast to coast jet flight 5 mr/ round trip
Color television 1 mr /year
X-ray diagnosis (eg.) 50 mr /exposure
Weapons fallout 4 mr/year
Living within 50 mi of nuke plant .02 mr/year

The reference is from 1979 so perhaps the weapons figure is down
a bit. How many mrems a year can humans take without real damage?

jim