Microsieverts and millirems are units of radiation dose that measure biological effect on human tissue.
microsieverts may be abbreviated to ¦Sv
millirems may be abbreviated to mrem
The conversion is
100¦Sv = 10 mrem = 0.1 mSv = 0.01 rem
There is no easy conversion between counts per minute and microsieverts because they measure different things.
The worldwide average background dose for human beings subject to natural environments is 2400 ¦Sv per year.
An effective dose of 10,000 ¦Sv carries with it a 0.056% chance of developing cancer or other health effect.
For people who receive extremely high doses in short periods of time, (say, in excess of 500,000 ¦Sv in a single day) there is an additional risk of acute radiation poisining.
