[ RadSafe ] Study- Workers in Nuke Plants have higher cancer risk

[Norm Cohen]

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Guardian (UK), Jun. 29, 2005

WORKERS IN N-PLANTS 'RISK CANCER'

By Sarah Boseley

The biggest and most comprehensive study ever among nuclear power
workers has established that the low doses of radiation they receive
can increase their cancer risk.

The study of 400,000 workers in 15 countries including the UK, carried
out by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), an arm
of the World Health Organisation, found that 1-2% of the cancer deaths
among those who took part may have been caused by radiation exposure.
The findings will be controversial, because the nuclear industry has
never accepted that its workers are at increased risk.

The research is overdue. The standards used for assessing acceptable
levels of radiation exposure are currently based on studies of the
survivors of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima in August
1945. This told scientists much about sudden exposure to high levels
of radiation, but it did not give a definitive picture of the effects
of low-level long-term exposure.

"There has been a controversy for decades about the use of data on A-
bomb survivors for setting standards for the protection of the general
public and radiation workers," said Elisabeth Cardis of the IARC
radiation group. "There was therefore a need for a direct assessment
of the carcinogenic effects of low-dose exposures, to evaluate the
adequacy of these standards."

The IARC scientists looked back at the exposure levels over one year
of 400,000 workers, 90% of them men. The workers had all worn
radiation dosimeters which registered their exposure.

Some worked in nuclear power plants, some in nuclear research or waste
management and others in the production of nuclear fuel, isotopes or
weapons. Those who might have had substantial neutron or plutonium
exposure were excluded, because these have not been adequately
measured in the past, said the IARC.

Of the 400,000, there had been 196 deaths from leukaemia (other than
chronic lymphocytic leukaemia) and 6,519 deaths from other cancers.
The risk of cancers in these groups forms the basis for radiological
protection standards.

The IARC said: "Many of the subjects in this study worked in the early
years of the industry when doses tended to be higher than they are
today, however. Only a small proportion of cancer deaths would
therefore be expected to occur from low-dose chronic exposures to X-
and gamma-radiation among current nuclear workers and in the general
population." The extra risk may be small, but the scientists say that
although it may be made worse by smoking, cigarettes would not account
for all of it.

"These results provide the most precise and comprehensive direct
estimates of cancer risk after protracted exposure to low doses of
ionising radiation," said Peter Boyle, director of the IARC. "They
strengthen the scientific basis of radiation protection standards for
environmental, occupational, and medical diagnostic exposures."

Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005

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