Page "Alpha decay" Paragraph 19

The relative biological effectiveness ( RBE ) of alpha radiation is higher than that of beta or gamma radiation.

RBE quantifies the ability of radiation to cause certain biological effects, notably either cancer or cell-death, for equivalent radiation exposure.

The higher value for alpha radiation is generally attributable to the high linear energy transfer ( LET ) coefficient, which is about one ionization of a chemical bond for every angstrom of travel by the alpha particle.

The RBE has been set at the value of 20 for alpha radiation by various government regulations.

The RBE is set at 10 for neutron irradiation, and at 1 for beta radiation and ionizing photons.