The US Capitol

Almost everything in the world has some radioactivity, but as we've seen, sometimes that's not even something to worry about. Still, everyone should be able to eat bananas anytime they choose. But as we've also observed, some substances are simply oddly radioactively, more so than they ought to be, or at least more radioactive than we would anticipate.

One such instance of something being much more radioactive than you'd expect is the US Capitol building. It is made of granite, and today's standards would not allow the granite to pass inspection. That is as a result of the substantial uranium content. The amount of radiation is 65 times higher than EPA guidelines. To provide some further context, the radiation exposure inside the Capitol would be 550 times higher than it would be at the fence line of a nuclear power station. Again, this does not imply that members of Congress are about to turn into glowing green zombies, but it does equate to a 0.5 percent increase in the risk of developing cancer.