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Study on cancer rates near nuclear power plants

As the nation explores whether to invest more in nuclear energy, the National Academy of Sciences is working on a study of cancer rates among people living near nuclear facilities.

“If you show living near a nuclear facility increases your chances of getting cancer, there will have to be radical changes,” 

Study aims to bring facts to nuclear power debate, including facilty north of Asheville Parts of WNC Citizen Times, ASHEVILLE, 26 Oct 11,  — From a small town in east Tennessee to the nation’s capital, scientists studying cancer rates heard a similar call from those who live near nuclear power plants.

“I really would like to see some real science out there that really analyzes and understands the root causes behind this,” Westmont, Ill., resident and mother Shari Katz, said during a Chicago hearing on the study earlier this year.

Her friend’s 10-year-old daughter died of brain cancer.

“It’s just devastating,” she said.

Madison County resident Judith McCandless, who lives just miles from the Nuclear Fuel Services plant in Erwin, Tenn., said she was diagnosed in 2008 with a rare cancer called multiple myeloma, which is found in about 1 prson per 100,000 worldwide.

She said six people in Madison, with a population of 25,000, have it.

“That’s huge,” she said.

As the nation explores whether to invest more in nuclear energy, the National Academy of Sciences is working on a study of cancer rates among people living near nuclear facilities.

Scientists will consider places like Erwin, 50 miles north of Asheville, and likely some parts of Western North Carolina, though the boundaries for the study area have not been set.

The study, called for by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, would update a study by the National Cancer Institute published in 1991 that found no danger in living near nuclear plants.

It comes as the nation considers expanding nuclear energy.

President Barack Obama has called for $36 billion in federal loan guarantees for nuclear power plant construction.

The first phase of the study, scheduled to be wrapped up by year’s end, is focusing on “scientifically sound” methods for an epidemiological study of cancer risks, according to the committee. Part two will be the actual risk study.

Difficult study

Cost will be a factor in designing the assessment, study director Kevin Crowley said…

A patchwork of state and local mortality reports, inconsistent data on illnesses and pollution combined with an American population that has moved around in the last 50 years are just some of the challenges in conducting the study, said John Burris, chairman of the committee.

October 27, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | health, USA