Dose rate at distance

The exposure rate from an unshielded gamma source is the product of two things: how many photons the source emits, set by its activity A, and how energetic and penetrating those photons are, captured by the specific gamma-ray constant Gamma. Spread over a sphere of radius d, the result is D = Gamma x A / d^2. With Gamma in R.m^2/(h.Ci), A in curies and d in metres, D comes out in roentgen per hour.

The roentgen is a unit of exposure in air. For photon energies used in industrial radiography, 1 R corresponds to about 8.76 mGy of air kerma, and for practical dose accounting the field convention is 1 R = 8.76 mSv. That gives 8760 uSv per roentgen, the conversion used here. Older survey meters read directly in mR/h, which is why both scales are shown.

This is the number that sets everything on the safety side of the job: the barrier distance, the stay time, whether a colleague can work at the far end of the bay, and how long a source can sit exposed before someone accumulates a reportable dose. It assumes a bare source in free air. A collimator, the projector body itself and any intervening steel all reduce the real rate, and scatter from nearby walls and the ground adds a few percent back. Always confirm with a survey meter - the calculation tells you where to stand while you take the first reading, it does not replace it.

D (R/h) = Gamma x A / d^2
D (uSv/h) = 8760 x Gamma x A / d^2
D (mR/h) = 1000 x Gamma x A / d^2
Gamma in R.m^2/(h.Ci), A in Ci, d in m