Strontium unit Strontium unit The strontium unit is a unit used to measure the amount of radioactivity from strontium-90, a radionuclide found in nuclear fallout, in a subject's body. Since the human body absorbs strontium as if it were calcium, incorporating it into the skeleton, its presence is very common. One strontium unit is equal to one picocurie from strontium-90 per gram of calcium (37 becquerels per kilogram) in the subject's skeleton. The United States National Academy of Sciences holds that the maximum safe measure of strontium-90 in a person is one hundred strontium units (3700 Bq/kg). The average American is estimated
Comparison of Chernobyl and other radioactivity releases Comparison of Chernobyl and other radioactivity releases This article compares the radioactivity release and decay from the Chernobyl disaster with various other events which involved a release of uncontrolled radioactivity. Natural sources of radiation are very prevalent in the environment, and come from cosmic rays, food sources (bananas have a particular high source), radon gas, granite and other dense rocks, and others. The collective radiation background dose for natural sources in Europe is about 500,000 man-Sieverts per year. The total dose from Chernobyl is estimated at 80,000 man-sieverts, or roughly 1/6 as much. However, some individuals, particularly in areas adjacent