Ionising radiation can cause sicknesses. In order to protect the population and personnel working in nuclear installations from these harmful effects, it must be possible to measure radiation doses at any time and as accurately as possible.

There is no question in radiation biology that the severity of sickness increases at high doses. Nevertheless, it is important when considering everyday radiation protection to be able to estimate the risk of a mutation of the genetic material, and thus the risk of cancer, even in the low dose range.

With high doses, the severity of the radiation effect increases beyond that of a threshold dose. While the chances of survival up to a certain radiation exposure remain intact, very high doses, such as those measured on the Chernobyl site after the reactor accident, will lead to death within a very short time period.