Radiation Protection Glossary

Dose Equivalent (some refer to this as Equivalent Dose ) is a quantity which takes into account 'radiation quality' which relates to the degree in which a type of Ionising Radiation will produce biological damage. The Dose Equivalent is obtained by multiply the Absorbed Dose by a Quality Factor . The resulting quantity can then be expressed numerically in Rem (old units) or more commonly Sieverts (Sv). It is worth emphasizing that the quantity is independent of the absorbing material (i.e. tissue, water, air).