Re: Federal Guidance Report No 13

[Bernard L Cohen <blc+@pitt.edu>]

On Thu, 19 Mar 1998, carol marcus wrote:

> >Lets do the Denver calculation:  From NCRP Report No. 93, pages 11
> >and 12 the annaul cosmic radiation dose in Denver is 0.50 mSv and
> >only 0.26 at sea level.  For terresterial radiation; 0.63 at
> >Denver and 0.16 for the Atlantic/Gulf region.  This is an excess
> >of 0.71 mSv/yr for Denver residents over say Boston residents.
> >
> >Lets assume that its all gamma radiation, ignore structural
> >shielding and let a Gy = a Sv.  The lifetime mortality risk factor
> >for this type of radiation is 5.75E-2 per Gy according to Table
> >7.3 of FGR 13.  Assuming a 75.2 year life span, we get a lifetime
> >probability of cancer mortality of 0.0031.  This means that if a
> >million Denver residents (new borns anyway) would move ASAP to
> >Boston, 3,100 fatal cancers could be averted.  This is clearly
> >worthwhile.  Therefore, the EPA's numbers indicate that
> >DENVER SHOULD BE EVACUATED AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

	--With this type calculation, I can give you a much more
impressive list of U.S. counties that should be evacuated because of radon
problems.

Bernard L. Cohen
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
Tel: (412)624-9245
Fax: (412)624-9163
e-mail: blc+@pitt.edu