The average value of the total yearly effective dose ^* of ionizing radiation received in year 1996 by the statistical inhabitant of Poland was 2.88 mSv. This value is made up of the radiation of natural radionuclides and those of artificial origin present in the environment and the radiation of radionuclides which come from all kinds of products such as building materials and food products. A large share of the total effective dose is contributed by the ionizing radiation used in medical diagnostics.

The regulations currently in force in Poland state that for those living or spending time near the accessible surroundings of the sources of ionising radiation, including nuclear facilities, and those who are threatened by radioactive contamination of the environment, the threshold dose, expressed as the effective dose-equivalent during 12 months, amounts to 1 mSv. The threshold dose does not include the irradiation of cosmic origin and radiation from natural radioactive elements contained in the environment in its natural state or occurring in organisms in physiological conditions.

Scientific studies let us estimate that the value of the yearly effective effective dose caused by radiation of artificial radionuclides received by the average inhabitant of Poland in 1996 following the EJ disaster in Chernobyl equalled 0.021 mSv. This value was composed of 0.013 mSv of radiation resulting from external gamma radiation affecting the human body and 0.008 mSv coming from the radiation of radionuclides which entered the organism through the respiratory and digestive tracks. The comparison of 0.021 mSv with the value of the threshold dose and with the average value of the total yearly effective dose, it follows that in 1996 the effective dose caused by radiation of radionuclides of artificial origin was respectively 2.1% of the threshold dose and about 0.7% of the average total yearly effective dose equivalent received by an inhabitant of Poland.

	Chapter Homepage	SOE Homepage	GRID-Warsaw Homepage	MEP Homepage