Sievert

The special name for the SI unit of equivalent dose, effective dose, and operational dose quantities. The SI unit is joule per kilogram (J kg^-1).

ICRP Publication 103, 2007

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Previous glossary entries

from ICRP Publication 130, 2015 and ICRP Publication 133, 2016

The special name for the SI unit (J kg^-1) of equivalent dose and effective dose.

from ICRP Publication 119, 2012

The name for the SI unit of equivalent and effective dose; 1 Sv = 1 J kg^-1.

from ICRP Publication 118, 2012

Doses in Gy are multiplied by a quality factor which depends on the particular detriment to obtain sieverts. The sievert should not be used in the quantification of radiation doses or in determining the need for any treatment in situations where tissue reactions are caused. In general, in such cases, doses should be given in terms of absorbed dose in [gray] (Gy), and if high-linear energy transfer radiations (e.g. neutrons or alpha particles) are involved, a relative-biological-effectiveness-weighted dose, RBE·D (Gy), may be used.