Key Issues
Radiation Standards and Organizations Provide Safety for Public and Workers
<< Previous
BEIR VII: Major Findings 5
One percent of individuals receiving a dose of 10,000 mrem would be expected to develop cancer, compared with the 42 percent likely to develop cancer from other causes. A 10,000-mrem dose is twice the NRC’s annual occupational limit. (The average U.S. nuclear power plant worker receives an annual exposure of 160 mrem, 3 percent of the NRC’s dose limit.)
The committee said it is difficult to estimate cancer risk from radiation doses of 10,000 mrem or less. However, the committee said the BEIR VII study continues to support the “linear-no-threshold model” for radiation exposure. The model holds that risk declines commensurate with lower radiation exposures; very low exposures mean that the risk to an individual is very low, but cannot be assumed to be zero. “The preponderance of information indicates that there will be some risk, even at low doses, although the risk is small,” Monson said.
Studies of children whose parents were exposed to radiation have found no adverse health effects attributable to radiation. “However, studies of mice and other organisms have produced extensive data showing that radiation-induced cell mutations in sperm and eggs can be passed on to offspring,” the committee said. “There is no reason to believe that such mutations could not also be passed on to human offspring,” the committee said, adding that the failure to observe such effects in human studies probably reflects that the genetic risks are very small.
International Study Of Nuclear Workers
A study by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) also supports current radiation protection standards.
The study—“Risk of Cancer After Low Doses of Ionizing Radiation: Retrospective Cohort Study in 15 Countries”—appeared in the June 2005 British Medical Journal.6 The study sought to determine whether workers with higher radiation doses have a higher risk of cancer, including leukemia.
The IARC study panel gathered radiation exposure data on more than 400,000 nuclear workers in 15 countries: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Finland, France, Hungary, Japan, Lithuania, Slovak Republic, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States. In the United States, 50,000 nuclear power plant workers were included in the study.
All individuals had worked for at least one year in environments that have the potential for radiation exposure—nuclear power plants, nuclear technology research, waste management, radioisotope production, fuel fabrication or weapons facilities. The statistical models used in the study accounted for such factors as age, gender (90 percent of those in the study group were men), the time between radiation exposure and death, how long individuals worked in that environment, and socioeconomic status.
5 “BEIR VII: Health Risks From Exposure to Low Levels of Ionizing Radiation,” Report in Brief, June 2005, The National Academies.
6 BMJ, doi:10.1136/bmj.38499.599861.EO, published June 29, 2005.
BEIR VII: Major Findings 5
One percent of individuals receiving a dose of 10,000 mrem would be expected to develop cancer, compared with the 42 percent likely to develop cancer from other causes. A 10,000-mrem dose is twice the NRC’s annual occupational limit. (The average U.S. nuclear power plant worker receives an annual exposure of 160 mrem, 3 percent of the NRC’s dose limit.)
The committee said it is difficult to estimate cancer risk from radiation doses of 10,000 mrem or less. However, the committee said the BEIR VII study continues to support the “linear-no-threshold model” for radiation exposure. The model holds that risk declines commensurate with lower radiation exposures; very low exposures mean that the risk to an individual is very low, but cannot be assumed to be zero. “The preponderance of information indicates that there will be some risk, even at low doses, although the risk is small,” Monson said.
Studies of children whose parents were exposed to radiation have found no adverse health effects attributable to radiation. “However, studies of mice and other organisms have produced extensive data showing that radiation-induced cell mutations in sperm and eggs can be passed on to offspring,” the committee said. “There is no reason to believe that such mutations could not also be passed on to human offspring,” the committee said, adding that the failure to observe such effects in human studies probably reflects that the genetic risks are very small.
International Study Of Nuclear Workers
A study by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) also supports current radiation protection standards.
The study—“Risk of Cancer After Low Doses of Ionizing Radiation: Retrospective Cohort Study in 15 Countries”—appeared in the June 2005 British Medical Journal.6 The study sought to determine whether workers with higher radiation doses have a higher risk of cancer, including leukemia.
The IARC study panel gathered radiation exposure data on more than 400,000 nuclear workers in 15 countries: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Finland, France, Hungary, Japan, Lithuania, Slovak Republic, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States. In the United States, 50,000 nuclear power plant workers were included in the study.
All individuals had worked for at least one year in environments that have the potential for radiation exposure—nuclear power plants, nuclear technology research, waste management, radioisotope production, fuel fabrication or weapons facilities. The statistical models used in the study accounted for such factors as age, gender (90 percent of those in the study group were men), the time between radiation exposure and death, how long individuals worked in that environment, and socioeconomic status.
5 “BEIR VII: Health Risks From Exposure to Low Levels of Ionizing Radiation,” Report in Brief, June 2005, The National Academies.
6 BMJ, doi:10.1136/bmj.38499.599861.EO, published June 29, 2005.
