Occupational exposure to ionising radiation
These statistics relate to classified workers exposed to ionising radiation for the period 2005-2015, the last such data was published for 2004.
The latest information shows in 2015:
- There were 7879 classified nuclear workers with a zero dose and 11219 with a non-zero dose, the figures for non-nuclear workers were 4118 and 2259 respectively.
- Non-nuclear covers six broad industrial categories: Dental, Medical and Veterinary; Research and teaching; Mining/drilling/quarrying; General Industrial; Non-Destructive testing (NDT) and Other.
- The mean annual dose was 0.4 millisieverts (mSv); 0.5 mSv for nuclear and 0.4 mSv for non-nuclear with the mean non-zero annual doses being 0.8 mSv for nuclear and increasing to 1.0 mSv for non-nuclear.
- The annual number of classified workers has declined; since 2005 from around 27200 to 19900 for nuclear and from 10500 to 6400 for non-nuclear.
- The numbers reporting zero dose have remained broadly similar since 2005, the decline in overall numbers means that they form an increasing proportion, in particular for non-nuclear where now they account for two thirds of classified workers.
Figure 1: Number of classified workers and collective dose (mSv), 1995 – 2015
