Airline pilots, crews exposed to increasing levels of radiation

Airlines are exposing their personnel to increasing amounts of radiation as planes fly longer distances, with pilots receiving the highest annual doses, France’s nuclear safety institute warned in a new report. The five-year study by the Institut de Radioprotection et de Surete Nucleaire found that while the number of crew receiving annual exposure above a specific safety limit remains relatively tiny, the proportion doubled between 2016 and 2019. The government agency recommended rotating staff more frequently away from the most-affected routes. Airline crews are more exposed than people on the ground to radiation from cosmic rays, which are blocked by the atmosphere. As carriers connect farther-flung cities and use polar routes to save time and fuel, pilot unions and health experts have begun raising safety concerns about higher radiation exposure. Levels affecting pilots and cabin crew should be closely monitored, and they “should be considered exposed workers,” the report concluded. According to the IRSN, exposure to these cosmic rays is about 150 times more potent at 10km above ground than at sea level, and is two or three times higher at the poles than the equator. Commercial airline flight personnel are the second most vulnerable worker category to radiation exposure after people making nuclear fuel, it said. <br/>