[ClearCase_guy]

If hit, however, plane passengers probably wouldn't hear or feel the strike, but they would absorb what Dwyer estimated to be an entire lifetime's worth of safe radiation.

I feel sure that I am being struck by dark lighning at this very instance. Of course, I feel nothing at all -- but that doesn't mean I'm not being subjected to multiple bolts of the stuff.
My only real question is that if this is safe radiation, what amount constitutes "an entire lifetime's worth"? Would absorbing 10,000 lifetimes' worth be a problem? Is there any actual meaning this type of language at all, or did it just sound good to the writer?

[Red Badger]

He full of Dark Matter......Dark Brown Matter................

[Squawk 8888]

The phrase was poorly written, but the idea is that the effect of radiation on the body is cumulative, and the “safe” level is one that is low enough for our cells to repair the damage. The most practical application is with the rules that apply to nuclear workers; if their total exposure reaches a certain level they are not allowed near any source of radiation. So the article is suggesting that the dose from a lightning strike is 10,000 times the “safe” level for a lifetime. I find this claim dubious because that kind of exposure would almost certainly cause symptoms of radiation sickness and would likely be fatal.

[Pontiac]

My only real question is that if this is safe radiation, what amount constitutes "an entire lifetime's worth"?

If you are speaking of legal matters the Nuclear Regulatory Agency says this is safe for occupational exposure.

5 times your age minus 18 REM per year.

So if you are 20 that would be 2 times 5 which would equal 10 REM (Rad Equivalent Man).

Then the NRC defines the Lethal dose (LD) as:

The dose of radiation expected to cause death to 50 percent of an exposed population within 30 days (LD 50/30). Typically, the LD 50/30 is in the range from 400 to 450 rem (4 to 5 sieverts) received over a very short period.

So safe is probably somewhere in between.