page_title: Radiation protection
section_title: Recommended limits on dose uptake
hierarchical_section_title: Radiation protection / Principles / Recommended limits on dose uptake
caption_attribution_description: English: Chart showing dose ranges of ionizing radiation in units of sievert.
context_page_description: Radiation protection, also known as radiological protection, is defined by the International Atomic Energy Agency as "The protection of people from harmful effects of exposure to ionizing radiation, and the means for achieving this". Exposure can be from a source of radiation external to the human body or due to internal irradiation caused by the ingestion of radioactive contamination.
  Ionizing radiation is widely used in industry and medicine, and can present a significant health hazard by causing microscopic damage to living tissue. There are two main categories of ionizing radiation health effects. At high exposures, it can cause "tissue" effects, also called "deterministic" effects due to the certainty of them happening, conventionally indicated by the unit gray and resulting in acute radiation syndrome. For low level exposures there can be statistically elevated risks of radiation-induced cancer, called "stochastic effects" due to the uncertainty of them happening, conventionally indicated by the unit sievert.
  Fundamental to radiation protection is the avoidance or reduction of dose using the simple protective measures of time, distance and shielding.
context_section_description: The ICRP recommends a number of limits for dose uptake in table 8 of ICRP report 103. These limits are "situational", for planned, emergency and existing situations. Within these situations, limits are given for certain exposed groups;
  Planned exposure – limits given for occupational, medical and public exposure. The occupational exposure limit of effective dose is 20 mSv per year, averaged over defined periods of 5 years, with no single year exceeding 50 mSv. The public exposure limit is 1 mSv in a year.
  Emergency exposure – limits given for occupational and public exposure
  Existing exposure – reference levels for all persons exposed
  Further detail of some of the limits can be found on the ICRPedia page.
  The public information dose chart of the USA Department of Energy, shown here on the right, applies to USA regulation, which is based on ICRP recommendations. Note that examples in lines 1 to 4 have a scale of dose rate (radiation per unit time), whilst 5 and 6 have a scale of total accumulated dose.
caption: USA Dept of Energy 2010 dose chart in sieverts for a variety of situations and applications.
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