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Ultra-low Levels of Terrestrial Ionization

Abstract

NEHER has suggested1 that the approximate lower limit of the exposure rate resulting from soil radioactivity be taken as 1.4 µr./h, an unpublished value measured by Millikan in Manitoba. Subsequent surveys in Europe and the United States2,3 reported minimum values for the intensity of terrestrial ionization which averaged approximately 4.5 µr./h. Millikan's value was also less than that found in the exhaustive study by Hultqvist4, in which the lowest indoor gamma level, as measured in wooden houses, was about 5.5 µr./h.

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LIBOFF, A., SHAMOS, M. Ultra-low Levels of Terrestrial Ionization. Nature 217, 629–631 (1968). https://doi.org/10.1038/217629a0

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