Oh yeah another thing I heard that I didn't think I saw in here is that I heard that if we had to wear a dissimeter (I think thats what a radiation monitor is called) like the things guys in nuke places work we would only be able to work 2 to 3 factory type shifts a week before we hit our "OHSA" radiation limit. And that on a typical work week/month pilots are more than twice over the nuke factory worker limit for exposure to radiation.

Corn...yes and no.

The instrument you describe is called a dosimeter, incidently FDX is the only airline that issues dosimeters to its pilots. A dosimeter is a measuring device, most use a known crystilline structure and then measure its change. The change in structure is then compared to a charted value to calculate the amount of radiation the device / wearer was exposed to.

More than you wanted to know !

However, you are correct in your reference to classification of "Radiation Workers". The Department of Energy regulates radiation workers in the US. However, under government agreement the FAA regulates all things related to aviation. If the DOE could inject itself in aviation, pilots would be listed as "radiation workers" and our total radiation exposure would have to be tracked. Also we would be required to have special education from our employers on the subject. If / when we reached perscribed limits we would have to be limited in our exposure...basically benched. The EU actually has some statues like this that affect aviation.

This is one of those cases where the US FAA trumps OSHA, DOE and other government regulatory agencies. In this case we are held to a lower standard!

There is an AC out on this subject that deals with education. However, AC's are advisory in nature and thus no company, at least that I'm aware of, provides any education to its pilots on radiation exposure. Sorry, don't have the # handy, but it easy to find. It was a product of the research done on the SST project back in the 60's and early 70's. At that time there was concern over increased exposure due to the high FL's that Concorde etc. would be operating.