The Most Radioactive Places on Earth

Who on Earth is exposed to the most ionizing radiation?
I'm filming a documentary for TV about how Uranium and radioactivity have shaped the modern world. It will be broadcast in mid-2015, details to come. The filming took me to the most radioactive places on Earth (and some places, which surprisingly aren't as radioactive as you'd think). Chernobyl and Fukushima were incredible to see as they present post-apocalyptic landscapes. I also visited nuclear power plants, research reactors, Marie Curie's institute, Einstein's apartment, nuclear medicine areas of hospitals, uranium mines, nuclear bomb sites, and interviewed numerous experts.

Notes about measuring radiation:
Sieverts are a measure of 'effective dose' - that means they measure the biological impact of the energy transferred to tissues from radiation.

Obviously I owe a debt to the fantastic chart made by xkcd, which inspired my visual approach to this video.

DOSES MAY VARY
The level of radiation varies widely around the world depending mainly on altitude and geology (excluding nuclear accidents).

Estimates of particular doses also vary. All numbers reported in this video should be taken as order of magnitude only.

The most contentious claim may be that smokers receive the highest dose of ionizing radiation. This is not a whole body dose, but a dose to the lungs as specified in the video. References are here:

Special thanks to:
Nigel and Helen for feedback on earlier drafts of this video.

Music is "Stale Mate"

[russellpair]

This man traveled all over the globe just to make an anti-smoking add

[MemoryDestiny]

This must be the absolute best anti-smoke video i've ever seen!

[jhndrsn]

Thanks! This video got me to finally quit smoking once and for all back in 2015.

[veritasium]

For those who are wondering... Yes, this means eating 20 million bananas at one time might kill you due to radiation exposure. But let's face it, if you're eating 20 million bananas, the radiation is the least of your worries.

[michaelgulo]

*throws cigarette down.

*moves to Pripyat for cheap housing.

[atreidestw]

The radiation levels in the Pripyat hospital were unreal. That geiger counter went bananas...

[billdoolinofficial]

"50 thousand people used to live here, now its a ghost town"

[charlemagne]

Girl: come over
Boy: can’t
Girl: why?
Boy: *you might expose me to 0.05 microsieverts of radiation*

[ESA-cenu]

Astronaut: 80000 microsieverts

smoker: 160000 microsieverts

Astronaut Smoker: it's time to die

[just_abald_guy_who_love_to]

Hats off to Marie Currie for going that deep to get her materials

[vishalreddy]

I had a mental sigh of relief every time he revealed the level of radiation to be far lower than harmful, even at places where I didn't expect like Chornobyl, Fukushima🙂

[ky]

This guy literally went to chernobyl just to tell people that smoking is bad. If that wasnt enough to make you quit smoking, i dont know what will.

[grahamclarke]

As a smoker, I could never have guessed i was getting that much more radiation. Interesting and another good reason to quit smoking.

[lmbo]

Everybody gangsta till the astronaut start smoking

[BossMan-xuxj]

Interesting story... My grandfather was a firefighter in Ukraine, working in a firefighter department about a hour away from Chernobyl. But 2 weeks before the eruption, he quit his Well all of his firefighter mates passed away.

[ginocontestabile]

Pretty sure that Cola Cola in Fukushima vending machine turned into Nuka Cola right now

[tj]

Person: *falls into a pile of 20, 000, 000 bananas.
Person: *dies*

[jordanbaszner]

4:00 apparently, her notebooks are also radioactive. The are so radioactive in fact that they are too dangerous to touch and kept in lead box’s.

[ponyphonic]

I never thought a screen full of bananas would be so chilling.

[hipstarchild]

imagine someone living near Fukushima and is a heavy smoker who enjoys banana sandwiches.